Lorne Michaels is in the middle of making additions to season 48 of Saturday Night Live.
After winning the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, Michaels addressed the “year of change” at the long-running NBC series.
He said there will be at least four new cast additions.
Deadline understands that Michaels is in the middle of talks and deals are expected to be closed over the next few days.
“This will be transition year. Change years are always difficult but always exciting. There are new people. There are four new people at least for now,” he said backstage at the event.
It comes after Deadline revealed back in May that Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney were leaving the show at the end of season 47 along with Pete Davidson. It later emerged that Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and Aristotle Athari would not be returning either.
SNL returns on October 1 with three consecutive shows.
Michaels added that the pandemic kept the large cast together longer than perhaps expected.
“The pandemic sort of interfered with the national order of things. I think there was a bonding, people got very close. When we did those at home shows, you got to see everyone’s apartment where and how they lived. There was an intimacy and connection between audience and group. I couldn’t imagine we could work without that whole team so we kept going,” he added.
The post ‘SNL’: Lorne Michaels Addresses Season 48 Cast Changes, Reveals There Will Be At Least 4 New Stars appeared first on Deadline.
