{"id":862243,"date":"2026-09-27T08:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T08:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/862243\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T08:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T08:08:08","slug":"snl-new-cast-members-how-season-52-introduced-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/862243\/","title":{"rendered":"‘SNL’ New Cast Members: How Season 52 Introduced Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFor those wondering how SNL<\/a>\u2018s new cast members<\/a> factored into tonight\u2019s season premiere, the answer was: not much.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two new featured players, Saidah Belo-Osagie<\/a> and Grace Reiter<\/a>, were introduced together, as part of an early sketch on the search for reality competition The Debut: Dream Academy\u2018s next breakout girl group.<\/p>\n

\n\tBelo-Osagie played Neelsa Boyce, a 17-year-old entrant who sought to become a pop star after playing Young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway when she was a kid.<\/p>\n

\n\tReiter got more screen time as Margle, who \u201conly wear[s] flip flops because I keep passing out when I try to tie my shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter she\u2019s first introduced, Margle shows up fully nude to a dance choreography session. We later learn that she and another eccentric contestant named Duff (Jane Wickline) were only invited to participate after witnessing an executive behind the show, played by Ashley Padilla, committing a hit and run.<\/p>\n

\n\tMargle is surprised to learn what Dream Academy is actually about: She says she thought it was a \u201cshow where you learned to control dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: \u2018Saturday Night Live\u2019 Season 52 Cast: Who\u2019s Returning & Who Won\u2019t Be Back?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tSubsequently, she pitches \u201cMoose Knuckle\u201d as a band name and the line \u201cNewton\u2019s Cradle, come and get it\u201d during a songwriting exercise.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sketch culminates with a performance by the final girl group, featuring Margle, who performs the hot new single \u201cNewton\u2019s Cradle\u201d alongside The Debut Season 1 winner Katseye (who happened to be the SNL season premiere\u2019s musical guest).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tReiter made one other appearance in the night\u2019s final sketch, which opens on host Jalen Brunson (of the recent NBA Finals-winning New York Knicks) in the locker room. He won\u2019t be meeting with reporters after tonight\u2019s game, he says \u2014 though he\u2019s visited regardless by a grey-haired Kenan Thompson, who reveals himself to be the NBA star\u2019s third-grade coach \u2014 you know, the one who had a \u201creally bad drinking problem\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tCoach Dennis has come around seeking a \u201csmall loan,\u201d and hopes to get Brunson to read his Spider-Man-themed porno screenplay. Thompson introduces Reiter as Tonya, an immigrant who came to the U.S. eight years ago with a dream \u2014 who he hopes to rope into his porn shoot. Kam Patterson also features in the sketch, which culminates in his, Reiter and Thompson\u2019s characters stealing jerseys from the empty locker room and running away.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was all the night had in the cards for Belo-Osagie and Reiter. Often, SNL will use its Weekend Update segment to help break in new talent, though special segments of tonight\u2019s presentation were instead devoted to special panelists Dario Amodei (played by Wickline) and Tucker Carlson (played by Jeremy Culhane).<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore returning for the new season, SNL said goodbye to Chloe Fineman<\/a> and writer-performer Martin Herlihy<\/a>, who was first introduced on the show as part of the trio Please Don\u2019t Destroy. Other returning cast includes Michael Che, Colin Jost, Mikey Day, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hern\u00e1ndez, James Austin Johnson, Andrew Dismukes, Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, and Veronika Slowikowska.<\/p>\n

\n\tNext up this season, we\u2019ll see episodes pairing Dakota Johnson & Turnstile (October 3), Shane Gillis & Rosal\u00eda (October 10) and Inde Navarette & Gracie Abrams (October 31).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For those wondering how SNL\u2018s new cast members factored into tonight\u2019s season premiere, the answer was: not much.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,363856,363857,12015,12016,92],"class_list":["post-862243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-grace-reiter","tag-saidah-belo-osagie","tag-saturday-night-live","tag-snl","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}