![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/X7VJMDSMSZE7RDE357BKVLPMUE.jpg\")
SNL cast members Mikey Day, Molly Kearney, James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim at The Museum Gala held at the American Museum of Natural History on December 1, 2022 in New York City. Kearney left the show in 2024. (Photo by Nina Westervelt\/Variety via Getty Images)Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d<\/a> is set to return on Saturday, Oct. 4 for Season 51. So, which of the current cast members will be returning to the late-night sketch comedy show? That\u2019s a great question.<\/p>\n So far, show creator Lorne Michaels<\/a> has only confirmed the fate of one cast member: James Austin Johnson<\/p>\n Michaels told Puck News<\/a> writer Matt Belloni in an article published on Friday that Johnson is set to return to Studio 8H this fall and will continue impersonating President Donald Trump. As for who else will join Johnson, Michaels didn\u2019t give names. However, there are expected to be multiple departures. \u201cMichaels promised me a significant shake-up, with several current cast members expected to exit,\u201d Belloni wrote.<\/p>\n When Belloni asked Michaels if he felt pressure to \u201creinvent this season,\u201d he responded, \u201cYeah, for sure.\u201d He added that the Season 51 cast lineup will \u201cbe announced in a week or so.\u201d<\/p>\n During Season 50, there were 17 main cast members: Michael Che<\/a>, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman<\/a>, Heidi Gardner, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Michael Longfellow, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Devon Walker, and Bowen Yang. Additionally, there were three featured players: Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, and Jane Wickline.<\/p>\n Some cast members have already hinted they could be leaving, including \u201cWeekend Update\u201d anchor Che. In a standup show at the University of Rochester in February, the \u201cThat Damn Michael Che\u201d star told the audience that Season 51 was a no-go for him. \u201cI\u2019m not coming back, don\u2019t worry. I\u2019m done, it\u2019s over for me,\u201d he said. However, Che has a history of joking about leaving the show, so it\u2019s unclear if he was telling the truth.<\/p>\n During the penultimate episode of Season 51, fans began speculating that Gardner could be leaving as tears welled in her eyes at the end of the episode as the cast said goodnight. However, after the season wrapped, the Kansas City native was included in an auction item<\/a> during Big Slick Celebrity Weekend. This item included a tour of the \u201cSNL\u201d set with her in September, suggesting that she will return for the new season.<\/p>\n The last major cast shakeup happened in 2022 when Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Pete Davidson, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villase\u00f1or, Chris Redd, and Aristotle Athari all left after Season 47.<\/p>\n There has also been ongoing discussion regarding who will take over the show after Michaels, 80, retires. In February 2024, Michaels told reporters that \u201cSNL\u201d alum Tina Fey<\/a> \u201ccould easily\u201d be his successor. When asked about this remark, Fey did not confirm her interest. \u201cIt was nice of him to say that, and I love him very much,\u201d she told The Hollywood Reporter in April.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SNL cast members Mikey Day, Molly Kearney, James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Fineman, Bowen Yang, Heidi Gardner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[12843,49,48,75,33314,3661,12844,348],"class_list":{"0":"post-93059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bestof","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-pmcarc","13":"tag-red-carpet","14":"tag-topix","15":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93059","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=93059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}