Maya Rudolph and “Saturday Night Live” are reuniting once more. The former cast member will reprise her role as current vice president and 2024 presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, TheWrap has learned.
Rudolph will play the politician through the 2024 presidential election, and this is far from the first time she has portrayed Harris. She first played the VP in 2019 during the Season 45 premiere of the NBC comedy staple and has played Harris nine times so far. That first appearance saw her join Larry David as Bernie Sanders in the “Impeachment Town Hall” segment. During that same season, Rudolph won a Primetime Emmy Award for the role in an episode hosted by Eddie Murphy with musical guest Lizzo.
Previously, Rudolph appeared as a cast member on “SNL” from 2000 to ’07. During her time on the show, she became known for her impressions of Oprah Winfrey and Donatella Versace, as well as her recurring “Bronx Beat” sketches, which she performed alongside Amy Poehler. Since leaving the NBC series, Rudolph has returned to host three times.
This is also not the first time “SNL” has tapped an alum to portray a buzzy political figure. Perhaps the best known example of this trend happened when Tina Fey returned to the show in 2008 to portray Alaskan governor Sarah Palin. Fey was a cast member and later head writer of the series from 1997 to 2006.
Additionally, Melissa McCarthy has returned to the show to portray Trump’s White House communications director Sean Spicer, Jason Sudeikis returned to play President Biden and Will Ferrell returned as George W. Bush, just to name a few other instances.
Rudolph can currently be seen starring in her Apple TV+ original, “Loot.” The comedy from Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard about the third-wealthiest woman in the world’s charitable endeavors was also just renewed for a third season.
Deadline was the first to report this story.
