Title card for Saturday Night Live

SNL Finalizes Season 51 Cast: Meet the New Lineup

Originally posted on Nerdist | By Michael Walsh | Last updated Sep 8, 2025 2:01 PM ET

Lorne Michaels has finally finished his annual purge ahead of Saturday Night Live‘s 51st season. For all his talk about a “major shake-up” turns out things won’t be too different in Studio 8H. According to The Hollywood Reporter , with the exception of Heidi Gardner the show’s longest tenured cast members are all returning. Kenan Thompson will be back for his 83 season. Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim, and Mikey Day are all returning with him. As our Weekend Update co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che.

With a month to go before SNL returns for season 51 on October 4, Lorne Michaels has finished tinkering with his cast. In the end he got rid of four members from season 50’s very large cast. Both Devon Walker and Michael Longfellow were let go after three seasons (and just one after both earned promotions to the main cast). Michaels also fired Emil Wakim after just one very promising season.

The biggest cut was to the show’s longest tenured woman in the cast, Heidi Gardner. After eight season it seems as though she left on her own. However, SNL veteran and recent show guest star Dana Carvey reported the choice to leave was not Gardner’s.

Heidi Gardner, Emil Wakim, Devon Walker, and Michael Longfellow in a split iage showing each of them on SNL NBC

The rest of season 50’s cast—Andrew Dismukes, James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernandez, Ashley Padilla, and Jane Wickline—are also returning.

Just as surprising as Gardner’s release is that SNL will actually go into season 51 with an even bigger cast than last year. The show added four new cast members in Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska while also promoting Please Don’t Destroy’s Ben Marshall to the cast.

While Marshal has appeared in pre-taped shorts featuring his sketch comedy trio since joining SNL in 2021, those are coming to an end. Please Don’t Destroy’s John Higgins announced he was leaving the show ahead of the new season. Martin Herlihy is staying on as a writer. Please While Don’t Destroy segments will no longer appear on Saturday Night Live, the trio is not breaking up. Higgins is just pursuing other opportunities.