Despite years of hinting that they would soon move on—and Michael Che literally telling stand-up audiences that he was done—Che and Colin Jost will still host Weekend Update, according to Deadline. This lengthens their record as the longest-running Update hosts in Saturday Night Live history with over ten years behind the desk. Mikey Day, who had the most screentime last season, returns for his ninth season as a performer (12th with the show overall, after starting in the writers room). And Kenan Thompson also extends his historic streak as the longest-tenured cast member ever with a whopping 23 seasons.
Per Deadline, the rest of the returning SNL cast includes Ego Nwodim (for her eighth season), Chloe Fineman (for her seventh season), Bowen Yang (seventh season), Andrew Dismukes (sixth season), James Austin Johnson (fifth season), Sarah Sherman (fifth season), Marcello Hernandez (fourth season), and last season’s additions Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline. There are five newcomers, which is also kind of four newcomers because one of them is Please Don’t Destroy’s Ben Marshall. The other previously announced newbies are Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska.
There are now 18 total Saturday Night Live cast members, even more people than were part of the 50th season. But that makes a certain amount of sense, given that the last couple years saw a lot of returning members. Comics like Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, and Dana Carvey more or less re-joined the show during the 2024 election, and returned to commemorate the anniversary. “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,” Michaels explained to Matthew Belloni of Puck in a recent interview. “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].”
But now that the party is over, Michaels is apparently still reluctant to rock the boat. The only real shake-up, as such, was Heidi Gardner departing after eight seasons. (Carvey claimed on his podcast that she was fired, rather than left of her own volition, though that’s unconfirmed.) The other departures—Michael Longfellow (three seasons), Devon Walker (three seasons), and Emil Wakim (one season)—were young guys who hadn’t gotten a ton of screen time. But we imagine it’s hard to make a mark on the show when you’re competing for time against much more established cast members. Maybe next year Saturday Night Live will reinvent itself.
