‘Saturday Night Live’: Why Gillian Anderson of ‘The X-Files,’ ‘Hannibal’ should host

Gillian Anderson is one of those people who can do almost anything as a performer. She can do work on the stage, she can act in movies, and she almost certainly can do anything when it comes to television. She can also do just about anything when it comes to genre — comedy, musical, drama. She can also eat her own leg … maybe. That “Hannibal” cliffhanger with her was pretty nail-biting (or leg-biting? Are we in a world where we can make cannibalism jokes).

We also think that she would be more than capable of being a great “Saturday Night Live” host — that’s why we are writing about her within our SNL Wishlist series! The goal here all along has been to highlight some of the best people from the TV world to appear on the show, and it’s somewhat appalling how Gillian has never hosted before. “The X-Files” has certainly been spoofed, most notably in a Totino’s Pizza Rolls sketch from a year ago.

Sure, there was no Mulder or Scully in the sketch, but the end tag was still pretty hilarious nonetheless. (Really, aren’t these the best sketches that Totino’s Pizza Rolls could ever ask for? It’s certainly a great role for them. Don’t worry — we’ll see ourselves out with this one.)

Aside from “X-Files” spoofs, there are reasons aplenty why Anderson would be great on the show amidst everyone else in the TV community.

Stage experience – Anytime you have someone on the show known for dramatic acting, there’s that wild-card factor. That’s not so much true when you have someone used to performing live. Is it different to have cue cards, goofy costumes, and the threat of Donald Trump making fun of you on Twitter (the latter is probably an incentive), but some of the skills probably translate.

Character capacity – Can you see Gillian playing a member of Trump’s cabinet? We actually could’ve envisioned her doing a Betsy DeVos, even though that role’s been occupied recently with Hillary Clinton. (We also could, ironically, see her doing a mean Hillary.) She’s be game to do a wide range of different stuff. Obviously, Scully is out there as a possibility, and there is probably a BRILLIANT sketch to be had in which you could have her investigating whether or not this administration is the result of alien activity.

Cameos! – Think Jamie Dornan, Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, or David Duchovny. Think all of them.

The biggest thing that Anderson would bring is a sense of passion and joy, someone we think would be really happy to be there and deliver a fun show. We want to see “SNL” go more in the direction of hiring these sort of actors who are well-known and nostalgic to so many people — we’re at this odd time where we want to see sketches and spoofs that are timely, but we want that mixed with some comfort food that can take away some of the problems of the world. The nice thing about Gillian is that she can bring you a little bit of both.

Would you like to see Anderson on “SNL” at some point soon? Share below, and head over here if you want to check out some other fun entries in our SNL Wishlist series. (Photo: NBC.)