Heidi Gardner is the latest cast member of Saturday Night Live to leave the show, a source tells Rolling Stone.
The comedian will exit the NBC show after eight years, joining a list of three other castmates who are not returning for Season 51. Variety and several outlets also confirmed the news on Thursday.
Gardner has yet to address her departure from the show. She joined SNL as a featured player for Season 43 and was promoted to become part of the main cast in 2019. The comedian seemed to allude to her departure on a podcast with Craig Ferguson.
“I will say the only thing that I’ve started to feel a little bit is just sketch fatigue, or idea fatigue,” she said on Joy. “At this point, after doing Groundlings and SNL for so long, I’m like, ‘I’ve written a lot of sketches.’”
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. On the show, Gardner played Michael Jordan’s security, she broke character during a Beavis and Butt-Head skit with Ryan Gosling, and even played Kim Kardashian.
Earlier this week, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim shared that they were departing the cast, while reports confirmed Michael Longfellow’s exit earlier on Thursday. “I won’t be returning to SNL next year,” Wakim wrote on Instagram about his exit. “It was a gut-punch of a call to get, but I’m so grateful for my time there.”
In his own post announcing his exit, Walker said, “Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. 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.”
A rep for Gardner did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
SNL creator Lorne Michaels said in a recent interview 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.
