Explaining the shared cinematic universe of the final Saturday Night Live episodes

Saturday Night Live announced its final two episodes of the 49th season on Thursday. Following Dua Lipa’s double-duty host/musical guest gig on May 4, Maya Rudolph will host for the third time on May 11 with musical guest Vampire Weekend. For the finale on May 18, Jake Gyllenhaal will return as host (also for a third time), while Disney girl-turned-pop star Sabrina Carpenter will make her first SNL appearance as the musical guest.

As is the way of the world, all these folks are promoting various recent projects. Maya Rudolph is currently starring in Loot on Apple TV+, and Vampire Weekend recently released their fifth album. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House came and went, but he also has a new Apple TV+ limited series, Presumed Innocent, premiering in June. Sabrina Carpenter’s star has been on the rise, and her summer earworm “Espresso” has been rising on the charts, threatening to unseat Taylor Swift as number one on the Hot 100.

As it happens, Swift is the Madame Web of this collection of SNL hosts and musicians, in that her web connects them all. If you’re a real pop culture freak, you probably already identified the interesting shared cinematic universe within the four entities closing out the season. If not, let us explain it to you in unnecessary detail:

Maya Rudolph is connected to Vampire Weekend through HAIM: Lead singer Danielle Haim used to date Vampire Weekend producer Ariel Rechtshaid (she was featured on their previous album, Father Of The Bride). HAIM has a working relationship with Rudolph’s partner Paul Thomas Anderson (who has filmed many of the band’s music videos and cast Alanna Haim as the lead in his film Licorice Pizza). As a result, Rudolph has become friends with HAIM. They even did Carpool Karaoke together. The Haim sisters are also besties with Taylor Swift, which connects the May 11 episode to the May 18 episode: Swift used to date Jake Gyllenhaal, who is reportedly the infamous muse behind her hit “All Too Well” (and others). Sabrina Carpenter is also friends with Swift and is one of the openers on The Eras Tour. So you see, the theme of these episodes is basically “Six Degrees of Separation From Your Ex And/Or Taylor Swift.”

Anyway, once Jake Gyllenhaal has given his final goodnights, Saturday Night Live will be on hiatus and then looking forward to its landmark 50th season. Expect a lot of fanfare and at least one major special (the last one was in February 2015 for the 40th anniversary; Taylor Swift was one of the guests). SNL boss Lorne Michaels has hinted that the 50th season could well be his last, so change may be on the horizon for the beloved sketch show. But let’s get through the Taylor Swift Cinematic Universe first!