‘Saturday Night Live’ Season 51: Full list of new cast members, returning stars, and major exits revealed

‘Saturday Night Live’ is nearing its official 50th anniversary. The recent events surrounding a large number of cast members leaving the show have left a lot of open-ended gaps for the show.

Fans have been debating for quite some time now about what the future holds for SNL, and what kind of changes are underway behind the scenes.

New joinees of ‘Saturday Night Live’

A lot of the new joiners of the popular show come from a completely different era and have been added as a way to help the show move along with the current times and trends. The new cast of SNL season 51 includes:Jane Wickline, who is known as a popular online personality and is known for making comedic content online. Her mother, Marcella Hardart, used to work as an assistant to the creator of SNL, Lorne Michaels, while her father used to work as a writer for the shows ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ and ‘In Living Color.’Ben Marshall has been a part of SNL for quite some time as a part of the trio ‘Please Don’t Cry’ and their comedic shorts on the small screen. Moving away from working behind the camera, Marshall will now be taking on a more prominent role in the show.Veronika Slowikowska is a popular Canadian actress and comedian who has worked on shows such as ‘I Like Movies’, ‘Middle Aged Things’, ‘Homeschooled’, and ‘EXMas.’ She will be working as a series regular and will specialize in character skits and micro comedy shows.

Tommy Brennan is an American stand-up comedian who has been cast as one of the regulars for the hit show’s new season. His most memorable performance comes from his skits on ‘Just for Laughs’ in Montreal.Jeremy Culhane is best known for his shows on the comedy platform ‘Dropout’ where he would perform short skits for comedic relief. He will now be joining SNL as one of the regulars.Kam Patterson is known for his podcast ‘Kill Tony’, and has managed to garner a lot of fame through the show as well.

He will now be featured on SNL regularly.

SNL cast changes

A fair number of iconic and legendary cast members have chosen to stay and retain their roles in the iconic TV show, while many others have officially announced their departure. Kenan Thompson, who is currently one of the longest-running cast members on the series, is set to stay for another season at least, bringing about some relief to fans.On the other hand, American actress and comedian Heidi Gardner confirmed earlier this year that she is officially putting an end to her chapter with SNL.

The star was part of approximately 8 seasons, and over the years had become one of the most popular and well-loved members of the show.Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, and Chloe Fineman, along with Marcello Hernández, are all confirmed to stay with the show. Hernández will also have more screen time following the departure of some of the key members of the cast. Ego Nwodim from ‘Mr. Throwback' also announced the news of her departure soon after Gardner.Popular impressionist James Austin Johnson will retain his position in SNL, while Colin Jost and Michael Che, who are known for rolling out the weekend updates, will still be seen on the small screen.