The (extremely) long-running NBC sketch comedy series lost some key players this summer, including Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, Aidy Bryant, and (debatably key) Pete Davidson. They also trimmed Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, and Aristotle Athari.
“This will be a transition year. Change years are always difficult but always exciting. There are new people. There are four new people at least for now,” executive producer Lorne Michaels said backstage at the Emmys.
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The remaining cast includes Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes (featured), Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson (featured), Punkie Johnson (featured), Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Sarah Sherman (featured), Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang.
Season 48 of “Saturday Night Live” will premiere on October 1. The following two weeks will also be originals. In addition to the live broadcast on NBC, the season 48 premiere episode will also stream live on Peacock. As of right now, subsequent episodes will stream the next day on Peacock, though a person with knowledge of the plans told IndieWire that those plans could change.
“SNL” has been the highest-rated comedy program among adults 18-49 for each of the past three seasons, regardless of time slot, according to Nielsen’s Live + 7 Day numbers.
On Monday, “SNL” won the Emmy (again) for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series. It only had to beat one other nominee in the category, “A Black Lady Sketch Show.” Keenan Thompson, the longest-ever tenured “Saturday Night Live” cast member, hosted Monday’s Emmys, which settled for an all-time low in key-demo ratings and among total viewers.
“Saturday Night Live” is produced in association with Broadway Video. The creator and executive producer is Lorne Michaels.
Ryan Lattanzio contributed to this story.
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