![\"Heidi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/heidigardner1500.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\tHeidi Gardner (Photo: Weiss Eubanks\/NBCUniversal)\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Heidi Gardner<\/a>\u2019s exit from Saturday Night Live<\/a> after eight years on the show\u2019s cast may not have been voluntary.<\/p>\n The New York Post is reporting that Gardner\u2019s contract was not renewed for Season 51<\/a> as part of the show\u2019s larger cast shake-up. \u201cIt\u2019s time for a new cast,\u201d an insider told the outlet.<\/p>\n The Post notes that Dana Carvey<\/a> said as much on his Fly on the Wall podcast yesterday, telling co-host David Spade<\/a> that \u201cfrom what I know as of this recording, it was not her idea to leave.\u201d Carvey admitted he was \u201creally surprised\u201d when he heard Gardner would not be returning, praising her range and \u201clikability\u201d as a performer.<\/p>\n Gardner\u2019s departure was first reported last week<\/a>, following the exits of fellow cast members Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Emil Wakim. Five new featured players<\/a> have since been added for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n Gardner has not publicly commented on her exit.<\/p>\n In an appearance on Craig Ferguson\u2019s podcast<\/a> earlier this year, Gardner said that she had begun to think about life after SNL, explaining that sketch ideas weren\u2019t coming to her as easily as before. Still, the Post\u2019s reporting suggests the ultimate call was not hers.<\/p>\n Gardner leaves the show with 159 episodes and more than 600 sketches to her name. In recent years, she has booked guest roles in You, Shrinking, and Girls5eva, as well as films like Adam Sandler\u2019s Hustle and the upcoming Will Ferrell comedy Judgment Day. She also recently shot the indie feature Transcending<\/a> in her hometown of Kansas City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heidi Gardner (Photo: Weiss Eubanks\/NBCUniversal) Heidi Gardner\u2019s exit from Saturday Night Live after eight years on the show\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-120253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}