When “Saturday Night Live” returns with its Chris Pratt-hosted season premiere, it’ll feature a new addition to the “Weekend Update” desk.

The New York Times reports that veteran “SNL” cast member Cecily Strong has been replaced on “Weekend Update,” though she’s not leaving the show. In her place: Michael Che, an “SNL” writer since last season, will be joining the “Weekend Update” segment as Colin Jost’s co-anchor.

Saying that “Update” struggled with identity issues following the transition from Seth Meyers to Jost and Strong last season, “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels acknowledged that “it’s always difficult to make changes and make ‘Update’ different from what’s gone before.” But Michaels sounds optimistic given the close friendship Che, a “Daily Show” correspondent, developed with Jost in his time in the writers’ room.

“Michael is a strong writer,” he said, “and he’s really funny.”

You can see how funny Che is for yourself, as he guides you through the gentrification of New York’s Lower East Side neighborhood in this MTV Other sketch:

“Saturday Night Live” returns on September 27.

Josh Wigler

Likes pizza, punch and pie. Dislikes the Chitauri.

@roundhoward

In what just might be the most ridiculous thing he’s done since wearing a Batsuit with nipples, George Clooney has just joined the cast of “Downton Abbey.”

Well, kind of.

The Oscar-winning actor will participate in a “Downton Abbey” special as part of U.K. network ITV’s Text Santa campaign, a Christmas charity that raises awareness for a variety of charities, including Marie Curie Cancer Care and Alzheimer’s Society. Details on the “Downton Abbey” charity film are scarce, but Us Weekly reports that Clooney will participate in “a sketch scene” for the special.

In other words, think less Paul Giamatti, more Diddy. Either way, the thought of Clooney pounding drinks with Lord Grantham, seducing Lady Mary, and maybe even seducing some of the kitchen staff (watch out, Daisy!), in any capacity, is almost too ridiculous to handle.

The next season of “Downton Abbey” premieres in the U.S. in January. Here’s a peek at what to expect:

Josh Wigler

Likes pizza, punch and pie. Dislikes the Chitauri.

@roundhoward

It’s no secret how much Andrew Garfield enjoys playing Peter Parker. But the “Amazing Spider-Man” star also knows that not everyone is as keen on his work — or, at least, the finished product.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Garfield acknowledged some of the criticism leveled at “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” The film is rated 53% fresh on review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com, a testament to the superhero sequel’s divisiveness. For his own part, Garfield has stopped to wonder about some of the movie’s potential problem areas.

“For me, I read the script that Alex [Kurtzman] and Bob [Orci] wrote, and I genuinely loved it. There was this thread running through it,” he said. “I think what happened was, through the pre-production, production, and post-production, when you have something that works as a whole, and then you start removing portions of it—because there was even more of it than was in the final cut, and everything was related. Once you start removing things and saying, ‘No, that doesn’t work,’ then the thread is broken, and it’s hard to go with the flow of the story.”

Garfield added that ultimately, it’s top-level studio executives who have the final say on what goes in and what comes out of their films. As a result, perhaps the “Amazing Spider-Man” sequel didn’t live up to certain expectations. But even then, Garfield made it clear how much he relished the opportunity to swing back into that world as an actor.

“Talking about the ...

The man behind one of the greatest foes that James Bond ever faced is no longer with us.

Actor Richard Kiel, who starred as the metal-toothed Jaws in multiple installments in the Bond franchise, passed away on Wednesday (September 10) in a Fresno, California hospital. No cause of death was revealed. Kiel was 74 years old.

With a hulking stature of just over seven feet, Kiel worked regularly from the 1960s until the time of his death, often playing imposing figures that matched his height. Most memorably, Kiel was Jaws, a brutal henchman who squared off against Roger Moore’s James Bond in 1977′s “The Spy Who Loved Me” and 1979′s “Moonraker.” He lent his voice to Jaws in other Bond projects over the years, lending his voice and likeness to video games like “007: Everything or Nothing.”

Kiel’s other credits were many and varied, including “The Wild, Wild West,” “Barbary Coast” and “The Giant of Thunder Mountain.” His acting credits slowed starting in the 1990s, but he delivered a scene-stealing turn in 1996′s “Happy Gilmore” as Mr. Larson, Gilmore’s ex-employer who turns from foe to friend, with a special distaste for Gilmore’s rival Shooter McGavin.

Even more recently, he lent his voice to Disney’s 2010 movie “Tangled,” playing Vladamir.

Leave your condolences for Kiel and his family in the comments below.

Josh Wigler

Likes pizza, punch and pie. Dislikes the Chitauri.

@roundhoward

Did you see those “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” set photos featuring the new Batmobile yesterday? They’re child’s play compared to the real thing.

Apparently moved by the “Batman v Superman” leak, director Zack Snyder has opted to unleash the first official picture of the Batmobile on his own steam. Here it is:

She’s a thing of beauty, ain’t she? A gun turret right on the hood, what appears to be a pair of dual missile launchers only slightly further back, and a structure that brings to mind the best of the “Dark Knight” era Tumbler and the aesthetic of Tim Burton’s Batmobile. All told, it’s a pretty slick new addition to the on-screen Batmobile collection.

Starring Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader and Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel, Snyder’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” roars into theaters on March 25, 2016.

Josh Wigler

Likes pizza, punch and pie. Dislikes the Chitauri.

@roundhoward

Robert Kirkman has long described “The Walking Dead” as a zombie movie that never ends. Now, he’s changing his tune.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kirkman, the executive producer of the “Walking Dead” TV series and writer of the “Walking Dead” comic books, says he’s finally arrived at an idea for how to end the post-apocalypse thriller. Now, the question isn’t about how “Walking Dead” ends — it’s about when.

“I do know what I’m building toward, yes,” said Kirkman, referring to how the comics will end. “I don’t know exactly what issue that’s going to fall on, per se, and I do have a lot of road laid out before that that is going to take a long time, but I certainly know exactly what I’m building to.”

Kirkman even knows the final page of the “Walking Dead” comic series, and he says that the idea came to him about a year or two ago.

“From the very beginning I would always plot these big, long overarching stories,” he said. “So it’d be like, oh, they’re going to get to the prison, then this is going to happen and then that’s going to happen and that’s going to happen. I wouldn’t really map out how many issues those were going to take, but I would always make sure that I had somewhere between two and ten years of story mapped out ahead of me.

“About a year or two ago, I finally nailed down exactly what I want the ...

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!

Something rotten is in the city of Charming.

No, really — it’s rotten, as in, very gross. “Sons of Anarchy,” easily the most brutal scripted series on the air, sank to deeper depths than ever before with its final season premiere, titled “Black Widower.” It’s no surprise, given where things left off in season six. But, still… “Wow” is the word that comes to mind.

Here are the most awful, violent and otherwise shocking things that happened during the season premiere.

RELATED: The 7 Questions “Sons of Anarchy” Must Answer In Its Final Season

The Tooth Fairy

The final season of “Sons” begins with a cover of The Association’s “Never My Love,” a classic example of “Sons” scoring a scene of brutal violence with soothing music. The opening montage sees how things are in Charming almost two weeks after Tara’s brutal murder: her killer, Gemma, is taking care of grandchildren Abel and Thomas; Juice is literally alone and naked; Wendy is checked out (of rehab); Wayne Unser brings flowers to Tara’s lonely gravesite, an unglamorous headstone marked by her prison numbers…

…and then there’s Jax, in prison on a parole violation, carving markings into a prisoner’s stomach, and pulling out his teeth with his bare hands. It turns out Jax needs to make a big impression on the leader of the prison’s Aryan Brotherhood, Ron Tully, played by Marilyn Manson. After all, there’s a war coming, and Jax needs all the friends he can get. In gifting Tully with ...

Tonight, “Sons of Anarchy” embarks on its last ride, kicking off the first episode of its seventh and final season. There’s a lot of business to handle before the members of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club – Redwood Original check out for good, and almost all of it looks to end in a blood-soaked barrage of merciless mayhem.

With hours to go before the premiere, here are the seven questions we need to see answered on the final season of “Sons of Anarchy.”

1. Can Jax Find Redemption?

The SAMCRO president is at the knife’s edge of disaster. His club is in peril. His wife is dead, and his mother is her murderer, although he doesn’t know it yet. The stage is set for a perfect storm of chaos. Can Jax steer away from the whirlwind, or will he destroy himself by riding head on into the vortex?

2. Who Will Feel Jax’s Wrath?

Aside from the obvious answer of “everyone.” There’s no doubt that Jax will be out for blood, seeking to avenge Tara’s death. But who will he target? Will he track down the wrong killer, and make things worse for his club, mirroring Tig’s decision to kill Damon Pope’s daughter and how it blew back on SAMCRO? Or will Jax find out that his mother was the woman behind the carving fork — and if so, how does he respond?

3. Can Gemma Survive?

Survival is sort of her super-power. No matter the conflict, no matter ...

With Reporting by Josh Horowitz

Watch out, Marvel Universe: Ms. Banks wants to save you.

Elizabeth Banks, the actress behind the glamorous Effie Trinket in the “Hunger Games” series, could have made her first Marvel appearance in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” director James Gunn‘s space epic that’s still lighting up the box office after many weeks in theaters. Speaking with MTV News at the Toronto International Film Festival for her new movie, “Love & Mercy,” Banks revealed that she approached Gunn, a friend of hers and former collaborator on the thriller “Slither,” for a role.

“I wanted to play Gamora,” she said, “and then he didn’t want to cast me. And I totally get it, because Zoë [Saldana] is great!”

Apparently, Gunn wanted to go “in a different direction” than casting Banks as Gamora. Even still, Banks has nothing but kind words to say for both “Guardians” and its director — and its star.

“It’s so entertaining,” she said of the movie. “[Gunn] is one of my favorite people in the whole world. I knew he was going to knock it out of the park, and he did. And Chris Pratt? He was premo. He’s the new Harrison Ford.”

So, what of the future? Given that Marvel is on her radar, can we expect to see Banks in a “Guardians” sequel? She certainly knows there are other Guardians out there, even though there’s only one on her mind: “I would just want to do the Groot.”

However, if you’re listening, ...

Warning: Major spoilers for the end of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” are ahead.

Andy Serkis deserves all of the praise in the world for his performance as Caesar in the “Planet of the Apes” movies. But a good amount of praise ought to be reserved for Toby Kebbell‘s work as Koba, the literally and figuratively tortured ape with a grudge against humanity, and an eye on vengeance against Caesar.

Koba was the surprise hit of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” a fan-favorite among fans and critics, and, apparently, among the creative team as well. In fact, writer-director Matt Reeves loves Koba so much that he might bring him back for his upcoming “Dawn” sequel.

Speaking with Chinese outlet M Time (and translated by Badass Digest), Reeves revealed that he left Koba’s “death” at the end of “Dawn” just ambiguous enough to allow the character to resurface in the next “Planet of the Apes.”

“I thought that Toby Kebbell gave such an incredible performance,” said Reeves. “And I thought he was so powerful and I thought God you don’t find a villain who has got that great a story. Because as you said he was not really formed as a villain, he’s really a tragic figure. And I thought God, he’s amazing let’s leave open the possibility, let’s create the door of a possibility if we find a story that becomes worth telling that we can go down that path again ...