A handful of newcomers are joiningSaturday Night Livefor the upcoming 47th season, but a couple of familiar faces will also be leaving. As it is, most of the sketch comedy’s regulars are coming back for season 47, including Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, and Pete Davidson. Meanwhile, Beck Bennett is living the series after eight years, while Lauren Holt - who joinedSNLas a featured player last season - is also out the door.
“Love you,SNL,“Beck Bennettsaid on Instagram after the news was broken, posting some photos of his favoriteSaturday Night Livememories. “Gonna miss you so much. Thank you for 8 years of remarkable people and incredible experiences that completely changed my life. I had so much fun.”
Newcomers joiningSNLfor season 47 include Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson, andSarah Sherman. Along with these new names, featured cast members include Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson. The regulars announced confirmed for the next season of the sketch comedy series are Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villaseñor, and Bowen Yang.
Between every season, there’s always speculation over which cast members might be leaving. Kate McKinnon’s name seems to come up every year as the next big name to exitSNL, but her run on the show will continue. Deadline reports thatSaturday Night Livecreator Lorne Michaels has become more “flexible” in allowing talent to pick up other projects outside ofSNL, which might be a reason bigger names like McKinnon, Pete Davidson, and Cecily Strong arestaying on board.
Case in point, Kate McKinnon has aJoe Exoticlimited series in development at Peacock in which she will play Carole Baskin. This will likely interrupt herSNLshooting schedule, but conflicts like this will reportedly be accommodated for the betterment of the talent. Meanwhile, Kenan Thompson, thelongest-running cast member on SNL, will also hang around onSNLeven though he’s also leading his own sitcom these days as well.
Rotating out cast members also opens the door for new comedians to make names for themselves onSaturday Night Live. As for the three newcomers for season 47, Aristotle Athari is best known for his role inSilicon Valley, Mike Judge’s series on HBO. James Austin Johnson has appeared in shows likeFuture ManandAll Risewhile Sarah Sherman worked onThe Eric Andre Show.
Saturday Night Livehas revealed some of the guest hosts we’ll see in the new season. Owen Wilson will be the first guest host of the season when it debuts in October, following his recent casting in Disney’sHaunted Mansionremake, and he’ll be joined by musical guest Kacey Musgraves. The following three episodes will feature Kim Kardashian West with Halsey; Rami Malek with Young Thug; and Jason Sudeikis with Brandi Carlile.
Fans can check outSaturday Night Livewhen the show returns with new episodes on Jul 27, 2025. The show also livestreams on Peacock in addition to airing live on NBC. This news comes to us fromDeadline.
