‘SNL’ Season 51 Cast Finalized Following Several Exits

Saturday Night Live’s 51st season is shaping up to be a good one. The late night sketch comedy series will premiere on NBC on October 4, with several longtime cast members returning and new faces mixed in.

According to Deadline, 18 comedians are confirmed to be part of the Season 51 line-up. Michael Che returns, despite him joking every year that he’s leaving the show. 

This year marks Che’s 12th season with the show, having joined in 2014. Scarlett Johansson also recently confirmed her husband, Jost, would be returning. “He’s going back to work,” she told Entertainment Weekly at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

Season 51 will also see the return of Chloe Fineman, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, and Sarah Sherman, as well as existing featured players Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline.

Five newcomers will hit the stage for the first time. Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska are joining the Season 51 lineup. 

Ahead of the new season and casting announcement, Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow all announced their exits. Writers Celeste Yim and Rosebud Baker also confirmed they would not be returning. 

The last major cast exit happened in Season 47 when eight cast members — Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Melissa Villasenor, and Aristotle Athari — exited.

At 22 seasons, Thompson currently holds the record for longest tenure on SNL, having joined in 2003. In 2024, he opened up about the “bittersweet” job of SNL.

“Being there a long time, you watch people come and go,” he explained on co-star Ego Nwodim’s Thanks Dad podcast. “So you have to deal with the parting of friendships, that kind of thing. The mourning of the loss of certain people’s presence and all that. So there’s a lot of bittersweet to it. We’ve had crew members die. All kinds of s—. So, like, it’s a heavier thing than just like ‘s— is sweet for me cause I’ve been there a long time’ kind of thing,” he added.