Saturday Night Live is ready for Season 51.
Deadline understands that the cast shake-up, which saw four people including Heidi Gardner exit and five people including Please Don’t Destroy’s Ben Marshall join, is now complete, according to industry sources.
The news comes after a big night at the Creative Arts Emmy for the show, and its 50th anniversary special, which won 11 awards.
Che returning answers one of the biggest questions given that he is wont to suggest that he is leaving the show. However, after Colin Jost’s wife Scarlett Johansson confirmed that her husband would be returning for Season 51, Deadline has learned that Che will also be back behind the Weekend Update desk with him.
It means that the cast now consists of 18 people: Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang, existing featured players Ashley Padilla, Jane Wickline and newcomers Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska.
Gardner was the biggest name to depart after having been on the show for eight seasons. She was joined out the door by Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim.
There had been suggestions that there would be an exodus this year after the energy of Season 50. The last major exodus was three years ago at the end of Season 47, which saw the exit of eight people including Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd and Melissa Villasenor as well as featured player Aristotle Athari.
Obviously rumors always abound about long-tenured cast members so it was inevitable that questions were going to be asked about the likes of Che, Ego Nwodim, Chloe Fineman, Mikey Day, Bowen Yang Kenan Thompson, the longest serving cast member, ahead of such a momentous season.
However, that has not materialized and Lorne Michaels now goes into Season 51 with a cast that’s bigger than Season 50.
Season 51 kicks off on October 4.
The post ‘SNL’ Cast Shake-Up Complete: Michael Che, Ego Nwodim, Chloe Fineman, Mikey Day, Kenan Thompson & Bowen Yang All Returning appeared first on Deadline.
