Saturday Night Live Season 51 is going to look a lot different. In the last few days, several cast members — including Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, and Devon Walker — and a handful of the show’s writers have announced that they’re leaving the show ahead of the next season.
The exits seem to be part of wider changes expected at the NBC staple after SNL creator Lorne Michaels said in an interview with Puck that fans can expect major moves leading up to the premiere of the new season on Oct. 4. When asked if he was going to “shake things up” at SNL, he said yes.
“It’ll be announced in a week or so,” said Michaels on Aug. 22, noting that this upcoming season he feels “the pressure to reinvent.”
Here’s everyone who has exited Saturday Night Live ahead of Season 51:
Heidi Gardner
Multiple outlets, including Variety and People, confirmed that Heidi Gardner won’t be returning to SNL for Season 51. Gardner was an SNL staple and worked at the NBC show for eight years.
The comedian participated in more sketches than any other cast member in Season 49, and was known for her “Weekend Update” character, teen movie critic Bailey Gismert. She was the longest-tenured female cast member during Season 50.
Michael Longfellow
On Thursday, Aug. 28, several outlets confirmed that Longfellow was officially out ahead of SNL 51.
Longfellow joined the cast as a featured player in Season 48 and became part of the main cast for Season 50. He has yet to address his departure on social media.
The news came as a surprise to some after LateNighter reported that Longfellow taped a screen test for the Weekend Update segment, which Colin Jost and Michael Che currently co-host. (It’s unclear if the pair of comedians plan to leave the show.)
Emil Wakim
Wakim announced on Wednesday, Aug. 27, that he wouldn’t be returning to SNL next season after joining for SNL 50.
“I won’t be returning to SNL next year,” he wrote on Instagram. “It was a gut punch of a call to get, but I’m so grateful for my time there.”
Wakim shared that he found out about his departure while at Six Flags and went on an “emotional walk through Bugs Bunny Park and stared out across Daffy Duck Lake thinking about life.”
Wakin also thanked SNL creator Lorne Michaels for believing in him and “changing my life.”
“Every time I scanned into the building I would think how insane it is to get to work there,” he said. “It was the most terrifying, thrilling, and rewarding experience of my life and I will miss it dearly and all the brilliant people that work there that made it feel like a home.”
Devon Walker
Walker shared the news of his exit on Tuesday, writing on social media that “me and baby broke up.”
“Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool,” Walker wrote in a post about his departure. “Sometimes it was toxic as hell. But we did what we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a fucked up lil family.”
While it’s unclear if Walker was leaving the show by choice, he poked fun at the scenario and titled his note, “wait..did he quit or did he get fired?”
Walker joked that he’s trying to be “in a prestige drama” next, “ideally something with Julianne Moore.”
Celeste Yim and Rosebud Baker
Yim and Baker, who were both writers on the show, are also departing Saturday Night Live.
Yim was a part of the SNL writing room for five years. They joined the show in 2020 and were promoted to writing supervisor in 2023.
“Lorne hired me over the phone when I was 23, and the job literally made all of my dreams come true … I loved it and I laughed every day and it’s where I grew up,” they wrote. “I was the first-ever out trans person to be a writer for SNL. I always felt honored to be working within the long tradition of queer writing at the show.”
Yim wrote a special thank you to cast member Bowen Yang for “changing my life and for making me feel normal.”
Meanwhile, writer and stand-up comic Baker left the show after joining SNL during Season 47 back in 2022 after writing for That Damn Michael Che. She wrote for “Weekend Update” during Season 50.
“It was a stroke of luck. There are so many funny comics and hilarious people. I’m not saying I’m not skilled, but I do think that when it comes down to how many skilled comedians there are, there is a stroke of luck that they called me,” Baker told Rolling Stone about joining SNL earlier this year. “Maybe thinking of it that way is helpful to me, it keeps you kind of humble.”
This story is being updated as new cast member departures are being announced and reported.
