NEED TO KNOW
- Saturday Night Live has confirmed five new cast members are set to join the series for the upcoming 51st season
- Veronika Slowikowska, Kam Patterson, Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan and Jeremy Culhane will be the new cast members on the NBC sketch comedy show as Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim depart
- The new season will premiere Oct. 4
Saturday Night Live is gearing up for its 51st season!
The NBC sketch comedy show announced more changes to its lineup on Tuesday, Sept. 2. Veronika Slowikowska, Kam Patterson, Ben Marshall from Please Don’t Destroy, Tommy Brennan and Jeremy Culhane are set to join the series this fall amid the recent casting shakeup on the series.
Slowikowska, 29, had a recurring role as Shanice in the horror comedy series What We Do in the Shadows as well appearing on Tires while Patterson, 26, is a regular on the popular Kill Tony podcast. He can next be seen in Netflix’s 72 Hours.
Marshall has appeared in the Please Don’t Destroy sketches on SNL and has been nominated for four Emmys.
Previously, Brennan was selected as a Just for Laughs New Face of Comedy in 2023 and has made appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon while Culhane is known for his viral TikTok videos and is a regular on Dropout TV.
Last week, Michael Longfellow, Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim confirmed their departures from SNL.
Walker first addressed his exit from the NBC late night show after three seasons in an Instagram post on Aug. 25.
“Me and baby broke up ❤️,” the comedian — who released his Hulu stand-up special LOL Live earlier this month — wrote alongside photos from the show.
“Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell,” he shared in part. “But we did what we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a f—– up lil family.”
In an Instagram post on Aug. 27, Wakim — who appeared on SNL for one season — said in part, “I won’t be returning to snl next year. It was a gut punch of a call to get but i’m so grateful for my time there.”
The following day, Longfellow shared a similar sentiment on Instagram, writing on his exit, “Will not be returning for a 4th season at SNL. Wish I was but, so it goes. It was the best three years of my life so far. I feel nothing but gratitude for the experience and everyone there.”
Gardener hasn’t publicly addressed her departure after being part of the cast for eight seasons.
Despite the casting shakeup, returning cast members from season 50 cast include Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Andrew Dismukes, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, James Austin Johnson and Marcello Hernandez.
The announcement comes after creator Lorne Michaels revealed that changes were coming for the 51st season.
When asked if he plans to “shake things up” with casting for the upcoming season during an interview with Puck News, published on Aug. 22, Michaels, 80, replied “yes.”
“It’ll be announced in a week or so,” he revealed of when fans can expect to hear the news.
He noted that he delayed major cast changes so the success of the show could take center stage amid the show’s milestone 50th season.
“I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season],” he explained. “So, when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it. And that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season].”
“And we had an election,” he noted.
At the time, Michaels confirmed that actor James Austin Johnson will continue to play Donald Trump. Alec Baldwin famously played the role during the 2016 election cycle and throughout Trump’s single term as president.
Kenan Thompson, the longest-tenured cast member in SNL history, teased in May that some changes could be in store for season 51.
Thompson told Page Six that the season 50 finale “bittersweet” partly because “there’s maybe, possibly, a lot of change next year.”
“You want everyone to stay forever, knowing that people may be making decisions over the summer,” he added. “It’s always like you want your kids to stay young.”
With 22 seasons under his belt, the comedian explained, “You just never know what the future holds.”
“I don’t want to be in the way of someone else or I don’t want to be the stale old man riding the same thing,” he continued. “That doesn’t really happen that much at SNL, but there’s no guarantees, I guess.”
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Saturday Night Live season 51 premieres on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
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