Which Saturday Night Live cast members are coming back next season?

Are longtime cast members Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant, and Pete Davidson returning? We're keeping track of comings and goings

By Saloni Gajjar | September 27, 2021 | 4:19pm

TV Features Saturday Night Live

Which Saturday Night Live cast members are coming back next season?

Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson in SNL season 46 Photo: Will Heath/NBC

Live from New York, it’s the limbo phase for Saturday Night Live cast members who are still working out deals for the upcoming season. SNL usually renews contracts or adds new players during the late summer, just before a new season premieres in fall. Season 47 will air its first episode on October 2. We’re in the home stretch now.

The season 46 finale, hosted by Anya Taylor-Joy, left things up in the air for four major, recently Emmy-nominated cast members: Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and Aidy Bryant. They took center stage during an emotional cold open and talked about what SNL has meant to them, especially during the last year. They could very well go the route of former SNL stars like Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Jason Sudeikis to focus on work beyond Studio 8H. (Strong’s turn as Jeanine Pirro during the finale’s “Weekend Update” segment could easily double as goodbye.)

Bryant, McKinnon, Strong, and Thompson have all branched out beyond SNL into individual starring roles. Thompson, who’s had the longest run on the sketch comedy, now leads his own sitcom, Kenan, for which he recently earned an Emmy nomination (along with his Supporting Actor nomination for SNL). McKinnon is set to portray Carole Baskin in Peacock’s true crime series Joe Exotic, and will film in Australia for three months for it. Strong and Bryant were absent for multiple episodes of season 46 to film Schmigadoon! and Shrill season three, respectively. Pete Davidson, who fueled exit rumors last month, has also slowly made a name for himself outside SNL. Last year, he co-wrote and starred in The King Of Staten Island. He will next appear in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, the thriller Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, and a rom-com called Meet Cute opposite Kaley Cuoco.

A recent Variety article revealed that SNL creator and producer Lorne Michaels was convincing veteran cast members to stay not just for one more season, but for a few more, at least until the landmark season 50.This includes granting flexibility so they can pursue projects outside of the sketch series. If these longtime favorites do leave SNL before season 47, they’d pass the baton to featured players like Emmy nominee Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, and Chloe Fineman. Of course, there are also dependable repertory players like Chris Redd, Beck Bennett, Mikey Day, and Alex Moffat. They haven’t addressed their futures on or beyond SNL as much. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but any of them could follow in the footsteps of Leslie Jones, who left in 2019 after five seasons.

While we wait for more information, we’ll be keeping you updated on who will be back to walk the hallowed halls of 30 Rock for season 47.

This slideshow will be updated periodically.

Seasons on the show: 2003-present (18 seasons)Recurring characters:Deandre Cole (host of “What Up With That?”)Steve Harvey, Al Roker, Charles BarkleyDarnell Hayes (host of “Black Jeopardy!”)Updates on coming back for SNL season 47:: “I have a certain number I would love to get to. I think 20 is a good, round, even number that I’m close to. I feel like that is in reach, but also it would be respected if I don’t get there. Like, 18 is fine, 19 is fine. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is, will I have time for my family? There’s only 24 hours in a day.”: “I am never in a rush to leave because I have never seen anything like it and number two, there aren’t many live shows left. It never gets old because it’s a sketch comedy and it changes every week.”, August 2021: “I keep saying I’m trying to get to 20 [seasons]. So if they don’t throw me out of there before, I’m trying to get to 20. And then I don’t know if it makes sense for me to leave even after that point. As long as the show keeps going and they want me to be there and I don’t feel like I’m in the way of somebody else’s opportunity, should I just oblige? I don’t really know what to do at this point, as far as leaving is concerned. Like, why should I ever have to leave?”, September 2021: “Oh yeah, yeah, I’ll be there,” Thompson confirmed to ET Online at the 2021 Emmys red carpet, just a few days before the SNL season 47 premiere.

Kate McKinnon

Seasons on the show: 2012-present (10 seasons—joined the cast mid-way thorough season 37)Recurring characters:Hillary ClintonEllen DeGeneresRuth Bader GinsburgAnthony FauciOlya Povlatsky on “Weekend Update” “Somebody’s Mom” DeenieColleen RaffertyUpdates on coming back for SNL season 47:: “It’s April. It’s early, and I really love working there, and I really love everyone who works there, so we will see.”

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Seasons on the show: 2012-present (9 seasons)Recurring characters:Sarah Huckabee SandersTed CruzMeghan McCainMorgan of “Girlfriends Talk Show” with Cecily Strong’s KyraCarrie Krum on “Weekend Update”Updates on coming back for SNL season 47:: “This is genuine—I’m not dodging. I don’t know. I really don’t know. And I kind of keep thinking I’ll have a moment of clarity where I feel like okay, it’s the time, or no, I need to stay. And I haven’t quite had that moment yet. I honestly think doing SNL in COVID has been a really odd experience because ‘Oh, I’m a vet now, I’ve been at the show, I know how it works.’ And COVID’s kind of turned that upside down. So it’s almost like learning it in a whole different way. I’m still having fun [Laughs.] I still enjoy being there. So I don’t know. And I think in a weird way I need to get on the other side of this season and on the other side of getting Shrill out there to have a little space to think about it.”, August 2021: “I feel like SNL makes you incredibly good at not banking on anything. You’re able to take it minute by minute by minute, and you almost realize how foolish it is to do anything else. So, at least for the three of us [along with Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong], I feel like that’s become our approach on coming back or, really, about anything. Just take it minute by minute and see.”

Cecily Strong

Seasons on the show: 2012-present (9 seasons)Recurring characters:Jeanine Pirro Melania TrumpThe Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party on “Weekend Update”Kyra of “Girlfriends Talk Show” with Aidy Bryant’s MorganUpdates on coming back for SNL season 47:: “I’ll be thrilled if I go back, I’ll be thrilled if that was my last show. I feel good either way. Things are a bit more up in the air and I’m okay with that. My lesson from last year is sort of see what happens.”: “I’m still thinking about it, to be honest. I know that, if I leave, I’m so happy with the time I’ve had there and I’ve been so lucky. And then, if I say stay, it means I get to go back to a place that I love so much. I’m just not sure yet. I know it’s a boring answer, but that’s the truth.”, August 2021: “I’m still thinking. Throughout the year, there were times where I felt like a fifth-year senior and I’m just hanging around, dead weight. Then there would be moments that felt so good. There’s things I want to do, and I want to be open for these things. If I’m there, great — if I’m not there, great. I just want it to feel like the right thing.”, September 2021, 73rd Emmys red carpet: “We’re still figuring out. It means I’m thinking it will probably happen.”

Colin Jost

Seasons on the show: 2014-present (8 seasons—joined the cast mid-way through season 39; writer since 2005)Recurring characters:“Weekend Update” co-anchor with Michael ChePete ButtigiegAlong with Michael Che, Kent Sublette, and Bryan Tucker, Jost is the co-head writer of SNL.Updates on coming back for SNL season 47:/: “I don’t have a real timeline. I just mean like I started to potentially psychologically brace for the concept of leaving, which I hadn’t really done. And I don’t really know. Certainly, quarantine makes you appreciate having any job—and very much appreciate having friends you get to work with and enjoy seeing.” Jost further explained that he’s in “no rush to leave,” but is interested in taking on other ventures. “And that’s kind of what I’m trying to figure out a way to do.”

Michael Che

Seasons on the show: 2014-present (7 seasons; writer since 2013)Recurring characters:“Weekend Update” co-anchor with Colin JostAlong with Colin Jost, Kent Sublette, and Bryan Tucker, Che is the co-head writer of SNL.Updates on coming back for SNL season 47:: “I’m like 99.9% sure I’m coming back to SNL. But at the end of theseason, I always think I’m going to quit because I [just] went through a whole season.”

Beck Bennett

Seasons on the show: 2013-present (8 seasons)Recurring characters:Mike PenceVladimir PutinJake TapperCasey from “Inside SoCal”Office Boss, genius businessman with body of a babyUpdates on coming back for SNL season 47: After eight seasons, it’s the end of the road for Bennett. : “Love you, SNL. Gonna miss you so much. Thank you for 8 years of remarkable people and incredible experiences that completely changed my life. I had so much fun.” After much speculation about Aidy Bryant’s, Kate McKinnon’s, Kenan Thompson’s, and Cecily Strong’s possible departures, Bennett’s exit is the biggest one of the season.

Kyle Mooney

Seasons on the show: 2013-present (8 seasons)Recurring characters:Criss AngelTom Cotton Todd from “Inside SoCal”Stand-up comedian Bruce ChandlingUpdates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Mooney has made no statements on the record about his future at SNL.

Seasons on the show: 2014-present (7 seasons)Recurring characters:ChadPete Davidson on “Weekend Update”Updates on coming back for SNL season 47:: “Right now it’s still, it’s all up in the air. I gotta talk to Lorne [Michaels]. It’s a big cast; there’s a lot of new guys in there, and there’s a lot of great new talent that it’s their time to shine. I have no idea what’s going on right now.”

Alex Moffat

Seasons on the show: 2016-present (5 seasons)Recurring characters: Guy Who Just Bought A Boat for “Weekend Update”Eric TrumpAnderson CooperUpdates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Moffat has made no statements on the record about his future at SNL.

Mikey Day

Seasons on the show: 2016-present (5 seasons)Recurring characters:Donald Trump Jr., Sean EvansJeff Deeley on “Weekend Update”Updates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Day has made no statements on the record about his future at SNL.

Melissa Villaseñor and Colin Jost in Photo Will Heath/NBC

Seasons on the show: 2016-present (5 seasons)Recurring characters:Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Dolly Parton, Marge Simpson, Dua LipaUpdates on coming back for SNL season 47: In May 2021, Villaseñor posted on her Instagram Stories that “I’m not coming back to snl next year. Cause i deserve better.” She promptly deleted the post, that she doesn’t know if she will leave SNL. She shared she had a drink and her “ego got too cocky.”

Chris Redd

Seasons on the show: 2017-present (4 seasons)Recurring characters: Barack ObamaUpdates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Redd has made no statements on the record about his future at SNL.

Heidi Gardner

Seasons on the show: 2017-present (4 seasons)Recurring characters:Bailey Gismert a.k.a. Giggly Teen Film Critic on “Weekend Update”Goop staffer Baskin JohnsJill BidenFamous ’80s Cocaine Wife Carla on “Weekend Update”Angel, Every Boxer’s Girlfriend From Every Movie About Boxing Ever on “Weekend Update”Updates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Gardner has made no statements on the record about her future at SNL.

Ego Nwodim

Seasons on the show: 2018-present (3 seasons)Recurring characters:Dionne WarwickPam BarrettA Weary Mother in Her Darkest Hour on “Weekend Update”Edith Puthie, the inappropriately named middle-aged womanUpdates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Nwodim has made no statements on the record about her future at SNL.

Seasons on the show: 2019-present (2 seasons; writer since 2018)Recurring characters:Andrew YangChen Biao, a Chinese government official Updates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Yang has made no statements on the record about his future at SNL.

Chloe Fineman

Seasons on the show: 2019-present (2 seasons)Recurring characters:Britney SpearsDrew Barrymore Ella EmhoffReese WitherspoonOoli, host of “The Ooli Show”Updates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Fineman has made no statements on the record about her future at SNL.

Punkie Johnson

Seasons on the show: 2020-present (1 season)Recurring characters:Pineapple on “Weekend Update”Updates on coming back for SNL season 47: As of this writing, Johnson has made no statements on the record about her future at SNL.

Lauren Holt

Seasons on the show: 2020-present (1 season)Recurring characters:Relationship expert Mackenzie Taylor-Joy on “Weekend Update”Updates on coming back for SNL season 47: Holt, who joined as a featured player last year, is leaving the series after one season.

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