Everyone’s favourite distressed ballerina/space queen/anarchist/hometown sweetheart Natalie Portman is hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend, backed up by musical guest Dua Lipa.

Natalie Portman is best known for her roles in films Black Swan, the Star Wars prequel trilogy, V For Vendetta and Garden State, just to name a few. She’ll be great, right?

So just because she was in the generally-agreed terrible Star Wars prequel trilogy that destroyed several actors’ careers doesn’t mean that she isn’t amazing in her own right (not even Samuel L. Jackson walked away from those movies looking cool – and Samuel L. Jackson always looks cool). She’s worked with acclaimed and award-winning directors Wes Anderson, Rebecca Zlotowski, Luc Besson, Tim Burton, Ivan Reitman, Terrance Mallick and Michael Mann. So she’s got chops, and Queen Amidala is now a minor blip on her career.

What’s the strangest about this whole “Natalie Portman to host SNL” thing is that the last time she hosted was 12 years ago! First of all, has it really been that long since “Natalie’s Rap” went viral (you know, the explicit “Lazy Sunday” Lonely Island follow up rap video where Portman brags about hard living)?

Second, it’s weird for such a high profile and talented actor to go so long without having hosted SNL. Heck, Alec Baldwin has probably hosted at least five times since then (fact check: he has – but really only confirms that he has some sort of SNL addiction problem).

Really, this could be the best episode of the season. They’ve come off from a strong weekend with last week’s Will Ferrell episode (HYPERLINK: WILL FERRELL RECAP BLOG) and are leaning on well crafted, funny and traditional sketches rather than the potentially fleeting political snafu of the week. There are so many of those that it’s just hard to keep up – plus, that’s what Weekend Update is for. The recent Jessica Chastain (HYPERLINK: https://www.globaltv.com/saturdaynightlive/latest/snl-jessica-chastain-rocks-womens-march-anniversary/) and Ferrell episodes shows that they aren’t going into a sleepy winter slump, and are only on an upswing.

Regardless, it’s going to be an exciting episode with Natalie Portman as host. It’s been a full cast turn around since her last time hosting (with the exception of Keenan Thompson – obviously), and much of the writing staff has moved along as well – so it will be interesting to see what 2018 Natalie Portman brings to Saturday Night Live.

Joining Portman, as musical guest, is British pop star Dua Lipa.

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Lipa has a performance style that is electric – one can only imagine what she’s going to do with the 30 Rock music stage.

So be sure to watch Natalie Portman and Dua Lipa on Saturday Night Live airing Saturday, February 3 at 11.30 et/8.30 pt on Global. Catch up on full SNL skits and episodes online the day after broadcast on GlobalTV.com/SaturdayNightLive