‘SNL’ Season 51 Cast Confirmed, With Some Veterans Returning and a Handful of New Faces

As with just about every fall season at Studio 8H, it’s time to say welcome back to some of your favorite Saturday Night Live cast members, goodbye to a few others and good luck to the new faces in the mix. According to Variety, the cast lineup for the show’s upcoming 51st season will feature the return of popular cast members Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim and Chloe Fineman, as well as Kenan Thompson, who will celebrate his record-breaking 23rd season on the show.

And, after whispers that producer Lorne Michaels was screen-testing some new duos to possibly take over the “Weekend Update” desk, Variety reported that co-anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost will be back for their 12th season reading the news.

Other returning cast members include Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernández, Sarah Sherman, the show’s current Donald Trump impersonator, James Austin Johnson and season 50 cast additions Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline. And, when the upcoming season kicks off on Oct. 4, the new faces vying for camera time will include Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska. In total, the upcoming season’s cast will feature a robust 18 members.

Among those leaving the show this season are eight-year veteran Heidi Gardner, relative newcomers Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim, as well as the Please Don’t Destroy video short trio who joined the show in 2021; member Martin Herlihy is moving over to the writing staff, Ben Marshall is being made a full-time cast member and John Higgins is leaving to pursue other ventures.

A certain amount of cast re-shuffling is expected nearly every year, with Michaels telling Puck last month that he planned to “shake things up” for the 2025-2026 season after feeling “pressure to reinvent this season” following minimal changes from season 49 into the series’ landmark 50th go-round celebration earlier this year.