Ryan Gosling can follow up his hilarious SNL cameo by joining one of the biggest movie franchises of all time. Gosling, the co-star of 2023’s highest-grossing movie Barbie, recently starred in The Fall Guy, a modern love letter to Hollywood stunt workers that also featured Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Hannah Waddingham. Although The Fall Guy has failed to meet box office expectations, the movie was celebrated by critics, extending Gosling’s streak of critically acclaimed films.
As part of the promotion for The Fall Guy, Gosling hosted Saturday Night Live on April 13, 2024. Among the various hilarious sketches that Gosling was a part of, including a notable Beavis & Butthead inspired bit that extended onto the red carpet of The Fall Guy’s world premiere, Gosling reprised his role in the iconic Papyrus skit with the nearly 7-minute-long Papyrus 2. The first Papyrus aired back in 2017 and became an instant classic on SNL, making the return of the celebrated Avatar spoof even more rewarding some 7 years later.
Gosling’s involvement in Papyrus 2 makes him part of the extended Avatar franchise and could set him up to appear in a future Avatar movie by James Cameron. Although Papyrus and Saturday Night Live have nothing to do with James Cameron’s Avatar, the popularity of the sketch is reason enough to get fans hopeful about a potential appearance from Gosling in an upcoming Avatar film. Gosling has led massive franchise films before, such as Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and Damien
Chazelle’s First Man.
While Gosling’s appearance in an Avatar movie sounds like a stretch, it would be an incredible full-circle moment that would add even more impact to the sketch’s punchline. Papyrus 2 feels like a short film in and of itself and is based on a hilarious premise, which should inspire some type of continuation outside of the SNL skits alone. It’s worth noting that Papyrus 2 wasn’t even included in the recent SNL episode that Gosling hosted, instead being posted online following the episode’s premiere.
In a perfect world, Gosling would pull off the biggest inside joke of all time by going from the Papyrus sketches on Saturday Night Live to starring in a future Avatar movie. Although the cast for Avatar 4, which is slated for a 2029 release date, has already been established, Cameron plans on making at least seven Avatar films if there is demand to back that number up. There is more than enough time for Ryan Gosling to get on board for one of the upcoming Avatar films, since Avatar 5 will not be released until 2031. It would be an incredible ode to Papyrus and likely one of the best Avatar movies as a result.