Among those leaving ahead of the new season are Heidi Gardner, who made her debut in 2017; Michael Longfellow, who joined the show in 2022; Devon Walker, who had a three-year run; and Emil Wakim, who only served as featured player on the program for one year. <\/p>\n
Following those departures, \u201cSNL\u201d shared in a Sept. 2<\/a> update that Please Don\u2019t Destroy group comedian Ben Marshall, as well as Veronika Slowikowska, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Tommy Brennan, would join the show as this season as featured players. <\/p>\n Less than two week laters, a shock came to fans when Ego Nwodim<\/a>, who many thought was already confirmed for the new season, announced she would officially be leaving \u201cSNL\u201d after seven seasons<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight,\u201d she wrote in part in an Instagram<\/a> post Sept. 12. <\/p>\n Nwodim, who began as a featured player on \u201cSNL\u201d in 2018 and then joined the main cast two years later, was one of the mainstays of the series, and notably one of the only eight Black women to have served as cast members in the series\u2019 50-year history. <\/p>\n With Nwodim’s departure, “SNL” now has no Black women cast members. After Rudolph left “SNL” in 2007, the show went seven years without a Black woman cast member, a streak that ended when Sasheer Zamata joined in 2014.<\/p>\n When asked about the aforementioned cast shakeups and departures, Rudolph, who was an \u201cSNL\u201d cast member from 2000 to 2007, tells TODAY.com<\/a> \u201cit was inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like every few years there\u2019s definitely a change. And I felt like it was inevitable. I mean, some people have been there for a really long time,\u201d she says before clarifying that she was not referencing Kenan Thompson<\/a>, who\u2019s been a cast member for 22 years, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show\u2019s history<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBut yeah, I\u2019m never surprised,\u201d she continues while also noting that she\u2019s a little out of the loop. \u201cI don\u2019t know what goes on behind closed doors anymore. Obviously, when you work there, you have the ins and outs. But I just find out about it like everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n While Rudolph later quips that she has to get the scoop from Nwodim about her departure, she acknowledges that much has \u201cchanged\u201d over the years. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was starting out, I was doing improv and sketch comedy at The Groundlings, which is still a wonderful theater and such a great place to start, because it\u2019s a place where you can get on stage and actually create characters and work, work, work,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was just like such an important training ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Rudolph says it was a different time then, before the advent of social media and people putting their content on the internet. \u201cI didn\u2019t have that ability then,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n But the amount of effort and the work is still the same. \u201cI feel like practicing and doing and doing and doing and constantly doing and finding other funny people is the key,\u201d she continues, \u201cand just writing and performing and creating your own body of work.\u201d<\/p>\n As far as who makes it on the show and how to land that coveted spot? The “Loot” star says it\u2019s really a mixed bag.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many different types of people at ‘SNL.’ I\u2019m a sketch performer. Some people come to it as stand ups \u2014 just stand ups and \u2014 that\u2019s a whole other being that thrives there and then some people are just impersonators,\u201d she tells TODAY.com. \u201cThere are so many different paths to get there. But I think creating and creating and creating and being a part of something, whether you\u2019re a stand up or whether you\u2019re a part of a group, I think is so important to just stay active and be seen as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Rudolph has not divulged whether fans will see her again on the new season, it\u2019s safe to say the door remains open for the award-winning performer who nabbed an Emmy in 2020<\/a> for her portrayal of Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> on \u201cSNL.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIn the case of Kamala, there was nothing to do but do it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n But there are some people she\u2019s just not interested in impersonating.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been other people, I think, definitely in the past, where I thought, \u2018Oh, God, I don\u2019t want to dress up like that lady’ … I feel like, if someone\u2019s a monster in real life, I definitely don\u2019t want to play them because I think somehow I don\u2019t want to totally be associated,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n As Rudolph gears up for her own projects, including the third season of her hit Apple TV+ series \u201cLoot,\u201d the comedian says she\u2019ll always have a soft spot for \u201cSNL.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sometimes strange not being on the show, because you feel like, \u201cOh, if I were there, I would really, I would really have fun doing that,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n (“SNL” airs on NBC, which is part of our parent company, NBCUniversal.)<\/p>\n![\"Fred](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/maya-rudolph-snl-lm-251010-2-c9c0ea.jpg\")
Fred Armisen as Prince, Maya Rudolph as Beyonc\u00e9 Knowles, Drew Barrymore as Pink, Kenan Thompson as George Clinton on “Saturday Night Live” in 2004. NBC \/ NBCUniversal via Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Maya](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/kamala-harris-snl-lp-main-241103-a9214e.jpg\")
Maya Rudolph and Kamala Harris during the \u201cPre-Election\u201d Cold Open on Saturday, November 2, 2024.NBC<\/p>\n