After last week’s lackluster episode with January Jones, SNL is stepping it up in December with a Werewolf, a Gossip Girl and a hospital heartthrob.

Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively will take over hosting duty on Dec. 5 with musical guest Rihanna. The actress is promoting her latest movie, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee in which she covers 10 turbulent years of the title character’s younger incarnation. The film is based on the novel by Rebecca Miller (who also directs) and navigates the turmoil beneath an apparently ideal suburban wife’s placid surface. The older Pippa is played by Robin Wright.

“Pippa’s mother is a drug addict,” the 22-year-old Lively recently told L.A. Times. “You see your mother as your mother; that’s all they are. But this realization that she’s a human being who makes mistakes, that is flawed, that is selfish, is really hard for her. And you’d think the last thing she would do would be to [make those same mistakes], but it’s really interesting to see how people repeat the cycle of abuse.”

Then, on Dec. 12, New Moon hottie Taylor Lautner hosts with musical guest Bon Jovi. The 17-year-old stars as Jacob in the Twilight Saga and, like Lively, is hosting SNL for the first time. New Moon remains the #1 movie in the country, making more than $258 million in its first three days.

Rounding out the month, James Franco is slated to guest on Dec. 19 with Muse as musical guest. Franco, who also has several movies in the pipeline, is  no stranger to TV either. He’s currently making a special appearance on the soap General Hospital and just taped an appearance on 30 Rock.