‘SNL’ Boss Lorne Michaels Addresses Casting Changes Ahead of Season 51

Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels finally addressed those surprising exits.

Ahead of the show’s 51^st season next month, the cast has gone through some changes.

Five cast members have departed, while five more were brought on. It was part of the mass cast exodus that Michaels previously teased, noting he wanted to go through some shakeups following the 50^th season, since he didn’t want to do anything drastic for the show’s anniversary. Now the series is saying goodbye to Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, Michael Longfellow, Heidi Gardner, and Ego Nwodim. Even though it’s not as much as fans had anticipated, it still leaves a big mark on the cast, especially since they were all fan-favorites.

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight on the Emmys red carpet, Michaels, who also serves as producer, said it’s “always hard when people leave. There’s a time for that, and our audiences always stay relatively young, and more so now with TikTok, and change is good. The people we’re bringing in, I’m really excited about.”

As previously mentioned, SNL is bringing on five new featured players. Please Don’t Destroy member Ben Marshall, who was on the writing staff for four seasons before being promoted to the cast, Veronika Slowikowska, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, and Tommy Brennan. The last time Saturday Night Live saw a mass exodus was after Season 47 in 2022, with eight cast members leaving.

Fans will see how these new cast members do when SNL returns for Season 51 on Saturday, Oct. 4 on NBC, hosted by Bad Bunny, with musical guest Doja Cat. It’s hard to predict how things will go with the new cast members mixed with the veterans, but SNL frequently goes through cast changes, so it’s nothing new, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still hurt when favorites leave Studio 8H.

Meanwhile, SNL alum Amy Poehler will be returning to host for her third time on Oct. 11, coincidentally SNL’s actual 50^th anniversary. She will be joined by musical guest Role Model, while Sabrina Carpenter will pull double duty the following week as host and musical guest. If fans are upset about the cast changes, Peacock is the home of all 50 seasons of SNL, so that would be a good way to keep their favorite memories alive.