The queen of “30 Rock” could be making her return to 30 Rock.
A source told The Post that Tina Fey is being courted to take over as executive producer of “Saturday Night Live” when creator and current executive producer Lorne Michaels departs.
So far, Michaels, 78, has not formally announced any intention to leave the weekly sketch comedy series he created in 1975. In an interview with the New York Times last year, the producer said, “I have no plans to retire.”
A year before that, however, he left the door open to a new phase, away from Studio 8H.
Michaels told Gayle King on “CBS Mornings,” “I think I’m committed to doing the show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years … I’d like to see that through and I have a feeling that would be a really good time to leave.”
The 50th season of “Saturday Night Live” is set to start in fall 2024, when the all-powerful Michaels will turn 80 years old. That will also coincide with another presidential election — when “SNL” reliably gets its best ratings — likely featuring Donald Trump.
Succession is on the table.
The Post has reached out to NBC for comment.
Fey, one of the greatest talents to ever come out of NBC, is considered by many in the industry to be the leading candidate — some say the only candidate — to take the helm at “Saturday Night Live.”
“I would be surprised if it wasn’t her,” a source said. “Seth Meyers has his own show. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg won’t come here. Judd Apatow passed [on the job] years ago. Amy Poehler has her own stuff. Bill Hader is directing a movie. Kate McKinnon is too hot.”
Online speculation that Fey, 53, would snag the “SNL” gig has been swirling for the past few years. Meyers has also been suggested as a possibility. But a source said the Fey move is coming closer to reality.
Another source inside NBC said the growing rumor isn’t true.
That hasn’t stopped the clubby, insular world of TV comedy from chattering away about the “30 Rock” creator taking the reins.
Many fellow showrunners believe that the job is Fey’s if she wants it and that frequent collaborator Robert Carlock, who worked with her on “30 Rock,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Girls5eva,” “Mr. Mayor” and other series, would come along to “SNL,” too.
“She doesn’t move without him,” a source said.
Since leaving her post as head writer and “Weekend Update” co-anchor on “SNL” in 2006, Fey has forged a hugely successful career as a creator and producer.
The NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” which she created and starred in as Liz Lemon, won 16 Emmy Awards. Her series “Kimmy Schmidt” was an early streaming hit for Netflix. And the first two seasons of her “Girls5eva” aired on NBCUniversal’s Peacock while the third will head over to Netflix.
Fey also wrote the screenplay for the movie “Mean Girls,” which she made into a Broadway musical, and has starred in a slew of other films, including “Date Night” with Steve Carell and “Sisters” with Poehler.
Fey and Poehler, who were popular Golden Globes co-hosts, are currently on their first live comedy tour, which is set to end in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 13, 2024.
For Fey, who lives in Manhattan with her husband, Jeff Richmond — a composer, producer and director — and their two daughters, the “SNL” job would also suit her family life.
“I think she’d do it,” a source said. “It would keep the husband employed and the kids in school here.”
Any official news of a “Saturday Night Live” succession, however, would likely not come at a planned Radio City Music Hall celebration for the show’s 50th anniversary next summer, because of Michaels’ known dislike of attention.
“He’s Canadian,” a source said.
