Saturday Night Live has undergone a fairly large cast shakeup ahead of its 51st season, with five departing and five new cast members joining. Creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels broke his silence about the changes Sunday night on the Emmys red carpet.
“The show has always brought people in from different ages and different generations and it’s how it revives itself, Michaels told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s always hard when people leave but there’s a time for that and our audiences always stayed relatively young and more so now with Tik Tok, and change is good. And the people we’re bringing in I’m really excited about.”
The most recent to announce her departure was Ego Nwodim, who revealed she was leaving after seven season and after the news that Heidi Gardner, Emil Wakim, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker would not be returning for Season 51.
Watch on Deadline
New additions joining SNL Season 51 are Ben Marshall, one of the founding members of the Please Don’t Destroy comedy troupe, who joined the show in 2021, along with Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska.
Returning cast includes Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang, as well as featured players Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline.
SNL 50: The Anniversary won the Emmy award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) at last night’s ceremony. It beat Netflix’s Beyoncé Bowl, the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar, The Oscars and its own SNL50: The Homecoming Concert.
You can see Michaels’ interview with ET below.