Lorne Michaels finished his annual purge ahead of Saturday Night Live‘s 51st season. For all his talk about a “major shake-up” it turned out things weren’t going to be too different in Studio 8H. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Heidi Gardner was supposed to be the show’s only long tenured cast members not returning. Kenan Thompson will be back for his 83 season. Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, and Mikey Day are all returning with him. As our Weekend Update co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che. But in a last second surprise, Ego Nwodim has decided to leave the show after seven seasons.
Lorne Michaels finished tinkering with his cast a month before SNL returns for season 51 on October 4. In the end he got rid of four members from season 50’s very large cast. He let both Devon Walker and Michael Longfellow 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.
The rest of season 50’s cast—Andrew Dismukes, James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernandez, Ashley Padilla, and Jane Wickline—are also returning. 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.
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.
With those newcomers the cast was actually set to be bigger than last season by one, but Nwodim’s decision changed that. Why leave now? She told Deadline, which reported her departure, it was time. ““The hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight. But after seven unforgettable seasons, I have decided to leave SNL,” she said before praising Lorne Michaels and everyone she worked with. “Week after week on that stage taught me more than I could have ever imagined, and I will carry those memories, and that laughter, with me always,” she added.
Garnder and Nwodim’s exits leave big holes in the cast. Will anyone else also decide to leave last minute and create another one? And how many of these many cast members won’t make it to season 52? Find out next summer for Lorne Michaels annual SNL purge.
This post originally published on September 8, 2025.