With 4 solid members (and counting) not returning for Saturday Night time Reside Season 51, the post-anniversary season of SNL seems like a little bit of a massacre, and that’s as a result of it kinda is. And which may be by design.
Earlier than the primary little bit of the drip drip drip of solid exits began to come back by way of, creator Lorne Michaels warned that this might be the case. He talked to Puck final week and defined his rationale for making large swings within the solid modifications this yr.
Season 50’s solid had some exits as effectively — Punkie Johnson, Molly Kearney, and Chloe Troast — however Michaels stated that as a result of he was planning an anniversary occasion for the landmark yr, “there couldn’t be these form of disruptions or something that was going to take the main target off.” So many of the main gamers got here again. Nonetheless, for Season 51, he admitted to feeling strain to reinvent the present.
Up to now, that has included the departures of Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, Michael Longfellow, and probably the most veteran lady castmate Heidi Gardner, plus writers Celeste Yim and Rosebud Baker. The sheer quantity of exits has given many individuals pause about what’s actually occurring. On Longfellow’s Instagram submit about his exit, for instance, Johnson (who had some expertise on this division) wrote, “wtf is occurring… That is just like the departed.”
Nonetheless, the writing has been on the wall for some time so far as some long-timers of the present have been involved. Again in Might, record-setter Kenan Thompson advised Web page Six that he anticipated the present’s solid to be upended forward of Season 51. “It looks like there’s possibly, presumably, plenty of change subsequent yr,” he stated.
Plus, Gardner herself indicated that she may be able to observe the exit signal out, saying on a podcast, “I’ll say the one factor that I’ve began to really feel just a little bit is simply sketch fatigue, or concept fatigue. At this level, after doing Groundlings and SNL for thus lengthy, I’m, like, ‘I’ve written plenty of sketches.’”
There have been different SNL stars who’ve indicated that they may be achieved forward of Season 51 as effectively, however their fates stay unclear as of this writing.
In different phrases, regardless that it looks like lots of SNL stars have been wiped from the solid record for SNL Season 51, it’s not that terribly surprising.
Followers debated the problem on the present web page on Reddit, with one observer noting, “This occurs yearly. Within the month earlier than each new season, there are a flurry of solid member departure bulletins adopted by solid member hiring bulletins. It’s like a sports activities group within the off season. There could also be extra departures this yr than common as a result of lots of people gave the impression to be staying on to make it to Season 50 which led to criticisms of a ‘too large’ solid in recent times and Lorne Michaels hinting at a ‘large shake up’ this season however, apart from that, that is fully regular.”
If there are extra large strikes nonetheless to come back, although, that sentiment would possibly change. We’ll see.
Saturday Night time Reside, Season 51 Premiere, October 4, 11:30/10:30c, NBC