Saturday Night Live is seeing some changes in its cast, with some members announcing their intent to depart ahead of the premiere of Season 51, which is on October 4. The latest to quit the show is Heidi Gardner. Vulture reported on August 28 that she was leaving.
Gardner was one of the longest-running cast members who's decided to throw in the towel. She joined in 2017 as a featured player in Season 43 but went on to become a full-time cast member in two years, eventually spending eight seasons on the show.
SNL cast members who have quit
Other SNL cast members who quit include Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow.
Walker joined in 2022 as a featured player for season 48. He became a full-time cast member during his third and final season on the show. Walker announced his departure in an August 26 post on Instagram. Wakim only spent a year as a SNL cast member, after being added as a featured player in Season 50, alongside Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline.
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{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Longfellow joined in 2022 and was a featured player at the start, on Season 48. However, he was promoted to a cast member for Season 50, his final year with SNL. Deadline broke the news of Longfellow leaving, on August 28, and he has yet to comment.
SNL creator Lorne Michaels also spoke about ‘shaking things up’ for the 2025-26 season. He told Puck in an August 22 interview that he planned to “shake things up.” Michaels said, “I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season]. So when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it. And that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season].”