SNL's First Halloween Sketch of Season 51 Explores the Horror of Unbreakable Plans
It's a trailer for a scary movie we've all been in once or twice, starring Host Sabrina Carpenter and cast member Ben Marshall.
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Saturday Night Live has kicked off the Halloween season with one of the scariest concepts of all: plans you forgot you had.
In "Plans," Host Sabrina Carpenter and new Season 51 Featured Player Ben Marshall play a young couple looking forward to a lazy weekend alone — until she gets a text saying, "Almost there!"
The October 18 pretaped sketch plays out like a horror movie trailer, slowly revealing how bad these particular plans really are. Over the 4th of July, Carpenter's character apparently agreed to let her cousin (Sarah Sherman) and her cousin's husband (Mikey Day) visit her in the city. Sherman's character runs marathons and has questionable political views, while her husband makes people watch endless YouTube videos and look at 1,000 pictures of his dog.
RELATED: Watch Sabrina Carpenter's SNL Sketches & Monologue from October 18, 2025
The visiting couple even prepared an itinerary that would make the biggest extrovert cringe: dinner at "that viral ramen place," followed by an immersive, Sleep No More-type play based on Snow White.
"The one where you're part of the show?" Marshall asked in horror. "Just tell them we have COVID."
That won't work, as Carpenter explains in a devastating kicker: "They don't believe in that!"
"Plans" takes a bit of an intriguing twist at the end — watch it above, and stream sketches from every episode of Saturday Night Live on Peacock anytime.
RELATED: Sabrina Carpenter Stole SNL's "Boys Podcast" Sketch As a Tween Interviewing Trump
"Plans" was written by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell
YouTube commenters declare "Plans" the "most relatable SNL [sketch] for our modern era" and "a true modern-day horror." Another writes, "I haven't been this terrified from a trailer since The Exorcist."
RELATED: Saturday Night Live's Season 51 Cast Members: The Full Lineup for 2025-2026
The sketch was written by co-head writer Streeter Seidell and Mikey Day, frequent collaborators who have given us terrifying Halloween bangers before.
Among the writing duo's many hits, they wrote the gritty Joker parody Grouch, put Chad in a slasher fic and a haunted house, turned Mario Kart into The Last Of Us, and even created David S. Pumpkins (alongside Bobby Moynihan).
Watch more of SNL's best Halloween sketches here.
Who's hosting SNL's 2025 Halloween episode?
Miles Teller — though his November 1 episode with Musical Guest Brandi Carlile arrives one night after Halloween, so we'll have to see how many spooky sketches we get!
