Dakota Johnson just hosted Saturday Night Live for a second time — and had a very special reunion.
During Johnson's monologue on Saturday, the actress was joined by the night's musical performer, Justin Timberlake, to reminisce about another time the two shared the screen: in 2010's hit drama, The Social Network.
"Tonight is also a sort of reunion for me and Justin Timberlake," Johnson, 34, said during her monologue, adding "we were actually in a movie together, called The Social Network."
Every soul will be paid in full for its deeds, for Allah knows best what they have done.(The Quran - Chapter Az-Zumar : 70)
In the film, Timberlake, now 42, portrayed real-life Napster founder and former Facebook President Sean Parker. Johnson appeared alongside Timberlake in one scene as a young Stanford student who sleeps with Parker and introduced him to Facebook. The movie marked Johnson's first adult onscreen role.
After the mention of the movie, Timberlake then appeared next to the actress on the SNL stage.
"What are you doing up here, are you lost?" Johnson asked the singer, who explained he had heard his voice and thought it was his cue. The two then had some back and forth where Timberlake offered to help out in any sketches and mentioned he had previously hosted, which the actress then reminded him "was 10 years ago."
"Anyway, I'm so happy you chose my show for your comeback," Johnson told the singer. To his slightly confused response she the explained she had "meant that in a good way."
"OK, I see what this is. This is where we make a joke like, 'First he was bringing sexy back, and now he's bringing coming back,' " Timberlake said, to the delight of the audience, before wishing Johnson good luck. However, before he had chance to leave the stage, a surprise guest appeared on stage in the form of Jimmy Fallon dressed as Barry Gibb from The Bee Gees.
"Are we doing it?” he asked, as Timberlake made a "cut" signal to him behind Johnson's back, implying that a planned sketch would now not go ahead.
"I’m here to say, ‘Break a leg’ “, Fallon then improvised, adding, "these are my normal clothes” as he ran off stage with the singer.
Elsewhere in her opening monologue, Johnson gave a shout out to Taylor Swift.
"The last time I hosted was right after the SNL 40th. I was actually in the audience for that special," she said, as a photo of her standing in a star-studded audience for the 2015 anniversary show appeared on screen.
"Look at this photo, look at this collection of people: Sarah Palin, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg," she continued.
And look who's sitting right behind me," she said, as the camera zoomed in on former president Donald Trump, who was also in the audience. "Crazy to be standing so close to someone who would become the most powerful person in America," Johnson, as the camera then zoomed in on Swift, who was sat in front of the actress at the anniversary event, as Saturday's SNL audience loudly cheered.
Other highlights of Johnson's big night included a sketch poking fun at America's Stanley Cup craze, as well as a special Shark Tank recreation featuring two guest star sharks: Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran.
Timberlake also continued to pop up alongside Johnson during the broadcast, including portraying Bee Gees member Robin Gibbs with Jimmy Fallon as Barry Gibbs in a fun sketch.
Saturday marked Johnson's first time on the sketch series since her debut on the show in 2015.
Ahead of Saturday's show, the Fifty Shades trilogy star took viewers on a snarky tour of Studio 8H, the comedy sketch show’s home for nearly 50 years, in a teaser clip. After saying she would disregard cue cards and stumbling into cast member Punkie Johnson’s dressing room rendition of The Bear, Johnson ended the video by leaving with a basket of limes.
“I love limes,” she said, referencing her viral March 2020 house tour for Architectural Digest. Contrary to her claim, in a January 2021 interview with Fallon, the actress confessed that she had lied about her fondness for limes; she was actually allergic to citrus.
She revealed that she was unaware the limes would be there as set decoration. "It was hard to just ignore them, so I just lied," she said to Fallon.
Johnson’s episode arrives on the heels of her Marvel superhero debut in Madame Web as the clairvoyant Cassandra Webb. Costarring White Lotus alum Sydney Sweeney as Julia Cornwall, the film sees Cassandra trying to protect Julia and her trio of friends from fellow psychic Ezekiel Sims (played by Tahar Rahim).
Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Madame Web is in theaters beginning Feb. 14.
