Alec Baldwin will be donning the blond wig and orange foundation once more.
Despite his past complaints about the role, Baldwin will be returning to play President Donald Trump on the upcoming season of Saturday Night Live, the actor announced on the Origins with James Andrew Miller podcast on Friday.
“I have fun doing it, there’s no doubt about that,” Baldwin said of his role on SNL. “They are all old and dear friends of mine, and I love going there. When the show is good, there is nothing like it. But for me, I think I’m going to do some of it, but not a whole lot,” he said, referring to skits with Trump. “Because I also think, and this is critical, there is a lot of fatigue here.”
On the same podcast, producer Lorne Michaels recounted how he learned the actor would take the SNL stage as Trump once more. “Sometimes I feel like we are still in campaign mode. But, I thought — [Alec and I] see each other a fair amount, so we don’t much talk about it in the offseason,” Michaels said. “And then, I think he was at the U.S. Open last week, and somebody asked him if he was doing Trump. And he said, ‘yea.’ And his agent Matt DelPiano texted me and said, ‘I think he’s doing Trump.’ And I went, oh, OK. But, he is somebody you know you can always count on.”
Baldwin’s return had been in doubt given comments he had made during SNL‘s Season 43. “Every time I do it now, it’s like agony. Agony. I can’t,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview in March.
The real Trump responded to his comments soon after, tweeting, “Alec, it was agony for those who were forced to watch.”
Baldwin tweeted right back, “Agony though it may be, I’d like to hang in there for the impeachment hearings, the resignation speech, the farewell helicopter ride.”
When asked whether another actor might take on the mantle of impersonating the president on the podcast, Michaels pledged his loyalty to Baldwin’s interpretation. “I think there is probably no other actor who is looking to take that and follow Alec. And I think, for a new castmember to come in and try, that would be a really tough thing to do,” he told Miller.
For the episode, which went behind-the-scenes on season 44, host Miller also spoke with “Weekend Update” co-anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost, Kenan Thompson, Aidy Bryant, Chris Redd, Heidi Gardner, Melissa Villasenor and show producer Lindsay Shookus.
Saturday Night Live returns on NBC on Sept. 29. The premiere will be hosted by Adam Driver and feature a performance by Kanye West.
