Saturday Night Live fans have voiced their fears over the future of the show after a mass exodus of the current cast – with more expected.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim would be departing SNL ahead of season 51, which premieres in October.
Yesterday, Heidi Gardner became the latest comedian to leave, after joining the gang in 2017.
She became a huge fan favorite in her time on our screens, blessing us with impressions of Jill Biden, and her efforts behind characters including Bailey Gismert, the teenage film critic.
The 42-year-old, who also stars on Apple TV+ series Shrinking, was also part of the iconic Beavis and Butt-head sketch with Ryan Gosling in 2024, where she famously couldn’t stop laughing.
Viewers were left baffled by the recent news and flocked to social media to share their concerns over what could happen to SNL next.
Reddit user Octogenarian said of Heidi’s departure: ‘Wow it’s a bloodbath over at SNL. She’s the third one I’ve heard about at least this week.’
‘Noo this is sad af [sic],’ Low-Photograph-5185 posted.
Calilove08 questioned: ‘What is happening that everybody is leaving?!? Or are they getting fired?’
DiligentTradition734 agreed: ‘I feel like all I’ve read in the past week is a new person leaving SNL. What’s going on lol.’
Shedding some light on the situation, LongTimeGoodTime suggested: ‘Lorne said that people had stayed on for the 50th season when they might have normally left early.
‘So now going into 51 they are doing more changes than there would normally be in one summer. More will probably come.’
As Ashlonadon added: ‘This is not unusual for SNL. Lorne cleans house every 5-10 years as a reset. And honestly, it was time
‘I’m fine with all the announcements so far. The only one that could hurt me would be Kenan.’
Kenan Thompson is part of the show’s furniture at this point, having joined the cast in 2003.
The Kenan & Ken star has gone on to become the longest-serving member in the history of the show, and is thankfully showing no signs of leaving.
Despite confusion from fans, refreshes on SNL are nothing new – with Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Andy Bryant and Kyle Mooney making their exits in one swoop just three years ago.
Last week, show creator Lorne Michaels announced that there would be a shake-up, with the announcements rolling in days later.
Speaking to Puck, he was questioned on whether he had planned to reinvent things after the milestone 50th season celebrations earlier this year.
‘I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season]. So when Kate hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it.
‘And that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions [to the cast], or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season]. And we had an election.’
When asked if he feels ‘pressure’ to switch things up for the upcoming episodes, he added: ‘Yeah, for sure. It’ll be announced in a week or so.’
Saturday Night Live season 51 will premiere on October 4, on NBC.
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