If you’re still feeling the “melancholy” of the Stranger Things series finale from this past December, Finn Wolfhard just provided the perfect encore. The 23-year-old actor made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut this past weekend (January 17, 2026), proving he has officially traded the Upside Down for the bright lights of New York City.
The nostalgia kicked in almost immediately. During his opening monologue—where Finn joked about 400 million people watching him go through puberty on camera—he was crashed by fellow castmates Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin). The trio shared a heartwarming (and hilarious) toast to being “former child stars,” officially marking their transition into adulthood.
The highlight of the night was undoubtedly the pre-recorded sketch mocking the endless expansion of the Stranger Things franchise. With the series officially over, SNL presented a mock-Netflix ad for “prequels, sequels, and requels.”
The standout segment, “Mike in Manhattan,” featured Finn as a Carrie Bradshaw-style writer narrating his dating life in 1990s New York. Seeing Dustin and Lucas join him for a cosmopolitan-drenched brunch—complete with jokes about their post-Hawkins “never-ending” dating disasters—was the laugh-out-loud moment fans didn’t know they needed.
Check out the full “Netflix Spinoffs” sketch below:
Stay Geeky!
