Every ‘Saturday Night Live’ Cast Member Leaving & Joining the Show Ahead of Season 51 (Updating)

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Lorne Michaels says he's feeling "pressure to reinvent this season" aft the show's landmark 50th year.

9/12/2025

Saturday Night Live Season 50 Cast. (Top enactment l-r) Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, Devon Walker, Chloe Fineman, Jane Wickline, Ashley Padilla, Andrew Dismukes; (bottom enactment l-r) Michael Che, Colin Jost, Marcello Hernández, Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, James Austin Johnson.

Saturday Night Live Season 50 Cast. (Top enactment l-r) Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, Devon Walker, Chloe Fineman, Jane Wickline, Ashley Padilla, Andrew Dismukes; (bottom enactment l-r) Michael Che, Colin Jost, Marcello Hernández, Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, James Austin Johnson. Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC via Getty Images

Ahead of the play 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live connected Oct. 4, Lorne Michaels confirmed successful an interrogation that a fewer acquainted faces volition not instrumentality to the formed this autumn — and those exits are starting to beryllium announced 1 by one.

When asked by Puck successful an interrogation published Aug. 22 if helium planned to “shake things up” for the 2025-26 season, the SNL creator and shaper replied, “Yes,” adding that helium was feeling the “pressure to reinvent this season” aft mostly keeping the formed intact from play 49 into the show’s landmark 50th year.

“I wanted radical coming backmost and being portion of [the 50th season],” Michaels told Puck. “So erstwhile Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came backmost for it. And that meant determination couldn’t beryllium those benignant of disruptions oregon thing that was going to instrumentality the absorption disconnected [the 50th season].”

The 2024-25 play 50 formed included 17 radical successful total: 14 full-time formed members and 3 featured players. The longest-running formed members connected Saturday Night Live are led by Kenan Thompson, who started connected the amusement successful 2003 and holds the grounds for the longest-tenured SNL castmate of each time. Other vets successful the mix: Weekend Update co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che, who some joined the formed successful 2014; Mikey Day (2016); Ego Nwodim (2018); and Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang (both 2019). So far, the longest-running formed subordinate announced to exit is Heidi Gardner, who joined the amusement successful 2017 and has spent 8 seasons connected the cast.

So who won’t beryllium backmost erstwhile the sketch drama amusement returns to Studio 8H successful October? And who is joining the formed this season? Below, find the afloat database of formed members exiting and joining Saturday Night Live up of play 51.