Alec Baldwin will play Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on the upcoming 42nd season of Saturday Night Live, with a promotional video released Wednesday offering viewers the first chance to see the actor take on the role.
The short promo video shows Baldwin and SNL cast member Kate McKinnon (who just picked up a Supporting Actress Emmy for her role on the show) getting into character as Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, respectively.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Baldwin will play Trump during the long-running sketch comedy program’s entire upcoming season, taking over the role previously played by Darrell Hammond and Taran Killam.
SNL producer Lorne Michaels reportedly made the decision to hire Baldwin earlier this summer. Baldwin previously starred in Michaels’ NBC comedy 30 Rock, and the 58-year-old actor has guest-hosted SNL a record 16 times. He previously played former Republican presidential aspirant Rick Perry in 2011.
The show has had some success going with outside hires to play presidential candidates in election years; in 2008, SNL alum Tina Fey returned to the show to play former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, while Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David played Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders in sketches last season.
David was also on set when Trump himself hosted an episode of SNL last year. The actor interrupted Trump during his opening monologue with shouts of “You’re a racist!” before revealing that he made the interruption to cash in on an activist group’s promise to pay him for it.
Baldwin has been largely silent about Trump during this year’s election, though he told Howard Stern last year that a “part” of him would “love to see Trump win.” The Baldwin-hosted remake of classic game show Match Game has featured celebrities making fun of the Republican candidate.
Despite kicking off on October 1, the upcoming season of SNL has already faced some early controversy with the hiring of new cast member Melissa Villaseñor. The first Latina cast member in the show’s 40-year history was criticized on Twitter for allegedly deleting more than 2,000 old messages on her Twitter account that critics deemed racist and offensive.
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