‘SNL’: 4 New Cast Members Join Show After Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson Exit
Meet the newest Saturday Night Live cast members. NBC has revealed the four featured players who will be joining the late-night sketch comedy show for season 48 following a cast exodus earlier this year.
Who are the new ‘SNL’ cast members?
Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker are the latest additions to the SNL cast.
Hernandez, who is a comedian, writer, and actor of Cuban/Dominican descent from Miami, was a Just for Laughs New Face of Comedy in 2022.
Kearney has appeared in Prime Video’s A League of Their Own and Disney+’s The Mighty Ducks. They were part of Comedy Central’s “Up Next” showcase in 2019.
Longfellow has appeared on Netflix’s Introducing … showcase and NBC’s Bring the Funny. He was also one of TBS’s “Comics to Watch” for the 2017 New York Comedy Festival.
Walker has written for Everything’s Trash on Freeform and Netflix’s Big Mouth and was also selected for Comedy Central’s “Up Next” showcase in 2017.
“Gonna be on @nbcsnl this year, hope that’s cool with y’all,” Walker wrote on Instagram after the news was announced.
“Going to be on @nbcsnl I’m so sorry!” Longfellow wrote on his Instagram.
Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson and other ‘SNL’ stars won’t return for the new season
SNL has undergone a cast shakeup in recent months, as a number of long-time stars opted not to return for season 48.
Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, and Pete Davidson have all left the show. Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, and Aristotle Athari also won’t be back for next season, which premieres October 1 on NBC.
As of now, returning Saturday Night Live cast members including Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, James Austin, Punkie Johnson, Bowen Yang, Michael Che, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Sarah Sherman, and Cecily Strong.
McKinnon says leaving ‘Saturday Night Live’ was ‘very, very hard’
McKinnon, who joined SNL in 2012, said the decision to move on was “very, very hard.”
“All I ever wanted to do in my whole life was be on Saturday Night Live,” she said during an appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan in July (via YouTube). “And so I did. I loved it. I had the best decade. And then, I was just like, my body was tired. And I felt like it was time.”
For Bryant, SNL’s punishing schedule had become an issue. She developed and starred in Hulu’s now-canceled Shrill while also shouldering her duties at SNL, but she told Variety she wasn’t sure she could continue to juggle Saturday Night Live with other projects.
“It would be a 22-hour day,” she said. “I can’t do that anymore. Maybe I could in my 20s. But now I’m in my 30s, and I’m like, ‘That’s a wrap on those days.’”
For Davidson, moving on was bittersweet. “I owe Lorne Michaels and everyone at SNL my life,” he wrote in a message shared on SNL writer Dave Sirus’ Instagram. “I’m so grateful and I wouldn’t be here without them.”
Saturday Night Live Season 48 premieres October 1 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. It will also stream live on Peacock. New live shows will also air October 8 and October 15.
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