Scarlett Johansson Hints There Will Be ‘Retaliation’ on SNL This Weekend for That ‘Roast Beef’ Joke

“I feel like it’s almost my responsibility to come up with some way to burn Michael back,” Johansson said in a new Vanity Fair cover story of her husband Colin Jost’s co-anchor on SNL’s “Weekend Update.”

“Retaliation, I’d say, should be expected,” she continued, adding, “Others on the show could support this desire. Know what I mean?”

Johansson certainly has close ties to the show. Even beyond the fact that she’s married to one of its longest-tenured cast members and writers, but this weekend also marks her seventh time hosting. The Jurassic World Rebirth star has made multiple cameos on top of that, making her basically a part of the family.

One of the key things that made the Christmas joke swap moment so brutal was that it came during one of Johansson’s frequent guest spots on the show. That meant that she was on hand — and on camera — when Jost brutalized her with a joke Che had written, that neither she nor her husband had seen beforehand.

“I had all these cameras on me. I didn’t expect the setup to be like that,” Johansson told VF. “I was like, ‘Wow, you really are seventh-, eighth-grade boys.'”

Talking on The Tonight Show in January, Jost said that his wife was given “a heads up” of sorts before the joke flew, telling Fallon, “They were like, ‘Hey, would you be okay if Michael made a little, like, kind of vagina joke at some point?’ She was like, ‘Sure, whatever, I’m open to it.'”

Of course, neither of them knew what said joke would be as the whole point of the infamous “joke swap” is that Jost and Che write jokes for each other that the other has never seen before they read it live on the air.

“The graphic came up for [roast beef] and Scarlett was backstage like, ‘Oh my god, that’s what it is!'” he added, sharing that both of their reactions were totally real.

It was the final joke of the bit, with Jost reading on air — as the camera quickly cut to Johansson — “Costco has removed the roast beef sandwich from its menu. But I ain’t trippin. I’ve been eating roast beef every night since my wife had the kid.”

While Jost broke down in uncomfortable laughter, covering his face, Johansson was seen watching the episode live backstage — exclaiming, “Oh my god!” after he read Che’s quip.

“I just can’t believe that they went there,” Johansson later said to InStyle magazine. “It was so vulgar. It was so gross. It was really gross. And, like, old-school gross.”

She said it was deeply uncomfortable knowing the cameras were on her in that moment, too. “They were waiting for me to react. I felt insane. The fact that it took on a full To Catch a Predator-style reveal or whatever,” she shared. “All of a sudden, it was like a whole bunch of people holding up lights, and a guy with a video camera.”

Johansson is already clearly fired up about returning to Studio 8H with her husband, as the pair take center stage in the mid-week sketch posted to the show’s official YouTube page.

In it, Johansson is “saved” by Sarah Sherman — who had her own recent SNL controversy with a White Lotus parody — from her overly-amorous husband who is hoping they can kiss in this weekend’s show.

After what went down in December, we’re pretty sure something is going to happen, but it may not be a kiss!

While fans are speculating as to how Johansson will make the boys pay for their “Update” antics, there is also speculation about if one or both co-hosts might mark their farewells. Both are now among the longest-ever cast members on the show, and the longest-ever “Update” anchors, with Jost wrapping his 12th season and Che his 11th.

Could Johansson be showing up to separate these two boys for the last time, maybe even taking her husband home?

Other cast members that could mark a farewell after the landmark 50th season are Mikey Day (10 seasons), Heidi Gardner (8 seasons), and Ego Nwodim (7 seasons). As seven seasons is the standard original contract for SNL, all five performers are free to leave the flagship. Or maybe six-season cast members Bowen Yang or Chloe Fineman may jump ship.

Of course, the biggest question is if creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels might say farewell after helming 45 of the show’s 50 seasons. He’s been back and forth over the last few years about it, and it’s not clear if he’d even want a big on-screen to-do when he does decide to step down.

You can bet, though, eyes will be peeled for any clues or hints — our outright goodbyes — for Michaels and several cast members … though we all assume by this point that Kenan Thompson (22 seasons) will still be there whenever they shut down the lights for good.