After a spectacular fiftieth anniversary season of Saturday Night time Dwell, Lorne Michaels teased some main solid shakeups heading into Season 51 and he was not bluffing. First, Devon Walker exited, with first 12 months featured participant Emil Wakim following quickly after. Ultimately, Michael Longfellow additionally introduced he was let go, and Heidi Gardner was additionally launched after eight seasons on the long-running NBC present. Nevertheless, Bowen Yang is staying, and he’s opening up about conversations he’s had with Michaels about his future on the present.
Yang lately spoke with Individuals Journal in the course of the One Home Toast to the Emmys celebration. Throughout that chat, the comic opened up about deciding to stick with SNL for Season 51, regardless of lots of his shut associates, like Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim, leaving. Whereas Nwodim expressed that it was time for her to say “goodnight,” Yang felt that his time wasn’t up simply but, and Michaels agreed that he had much more in entrance of him:
I’ve all the time passed by the intuition of, do I’ve extra to do? And I really feel like I do. Even Caroline Younger Lorne [Michaels] and I talked about it, and Lorne was like, ‘You might have extra to do,’ and meaning rather a lot, as a result of I even confessed to him. I used to be like, ‘I really feel the viewers is perhaps getting sick of me.’ And he was like, ‘That is not true. There’s extra so that you can do. I want you.’ I’ve to honor that. That man has modified my life, and I owe quite a lot of my life to that present. And I like working there, the individuals are the most effective. I actually love every of them a lot.
I definitely agree that Bowen Yang has extra to do. He dazzled viewers with Weekend Replace bits just like the Titanic Iceberg, Jafar and Moo Deng. He is additionally confirmed himself to be a stable sketch participant. Given the success of Yang’s Las Culturistas podcast as properly, I believe it’s protected to say he is constructed a stable following. I might personally wish to see extra of him and hope he will get loads of time to shine amid Saturday Night time Dwell Season 51. As for whether or not or not Yang has a recreation plan for his profession, he had this to say:
I let that go, and I believe it served me properly. I like having no street map. If there’s anywhere to do this, it is SNL, the place it is week to week. Typically you are up for the problem. Typically you present up even for those who aren’t, and that is sort of what makes fascinating issues occur.
Together with Yang and different favorites returning, thrilling new SNL solid members have additionally been introduced, and there are some younger faces within the combine. Ben Marshall of Please Do Not Destroy is now a part of the solid, and newcomers like Kam Patterson and Tommy Brennan are additionally becoming a member of the ensemble. There’s quite a lot of sturdy potential, although it should admittedly be unusual to see a Season 51 solid with out some stars who’ve added a lot to the present for years.
Though it is robust to see some Saturday Night time Dwell stars go, these feedback from Bowen Yang even have me excited for Season 51. Lorne Michaels has sturdy instincts and is aware of when a solid member has worn out their welcome, or after they have extra to showcase. For the Depraved star, he has much more to supply, and so do returning solid members like Colin Jost, James Austin Johnson and Marcello Hernández. A few of these solid shakeups could seem stunning, however I’d by no means underestimate Michaels in relation to having a plan.
You possibly can try Bowen Yang and the remainder of the solid on Season 51 of SNL, which premieres on NBC at 11:30 EST on October 4 amid the 2025 TV schedule. Followers of the present also can try earlier episodes of the beloved sketch present now by streaming it with a Peacock subscription.