‘SNL’s Huge Behind-the-Scenes Overhaul Puts Lorne Michaels’ Iconic Series Under Immense Pressure for Season 51

Saturday Night Live has spent most of this year throwing its own 50th anniversary celebration, complete with legacy cameos, archival sketches, and a carefully curated special that stuffed every Hollywood A-lister it could find into the cramped, canary-yellow stadium seats of Studio 8H. But now that the sheen of nostalgia has faded, the show is back in the messier business of live comedy, which means it’s also back to not-so-quietly cycling out cast members and longtime writers in service of its own reinvention.

Newer additions like Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Emil Wakim have unceremoniously gotten the boot, eagerly detailing their “toxic as hell” experiences online. Immensely talented voices like transgender trailblazer Celeste Yim put down their pens to prioritize their mental health, and ridiculously gifted laugh-riots like Heidi Gardner, who’ve spent years churning out comedy gold and never getting enough credit for it, have also issued their shocking goodbyes. It’s no surprise, then, that the next installment of SNL arrives not with buzz, but with baggage. One thing is absolutely certain: SNL is having an identity crisis.

‘SNL’s Big Changes Ahead of Season 51 Paint an Uncertain Future

Of course, every season of SNL comes with changes… but this one feels different. The cast isn’t just shifting, it’s being reshaped. And who leaves, who stays, and who steps in next may ultimately define what SNL becomes after its 50th. Right now, the departures are what’s making headlines. Walker was a stand-up comic who joined the show in 2022 and, in an Instagram post, shared that his stint on SNL was a bit of a two-sided coin. “Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell,” he wrote. “But we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction.” While his exit feels more like a mutual decision, Wakim’s omission from the Season 51 roster took him by surprise. The comic revealed the news came during a birthday outing at an amusement park and “was a gut punch of a call to get.”

But Longfellow’s phase-out feels the most surprising, especially after rumors swirled that he was one of the possible replacements for Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che. Gardner’s announcement that she was leaving the show after eight years comes smack in the middle of the sketch show’s tumultuous firing spree, and perhaps points to the show’s chaotic, toxic culture. Gardner hasn’t made any comments about her departure, though she admitted recently in an interview that the show was getting a “little tough.” Combined with the loss of Yim, who’s helped author some of Bowen Yang’s most popular skits over the years and who cited “exhaustion” due to the show’s “grueling schedule,” the sad news is unfortunately not surprising.

‘SNL’ Has a Few Cast Members It Can Rely On

Image via NBC

But SNL still has a sturdy bench of players, namely Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernández, and Andrew Dismukes. They aren’t just surviving — they’re giving the show an actual personality, each with their own weird, specific comedy lanes that feel more vital than ever. (Of course, it goes without saying that SNL legend Kenan Thompson is also a key part of what makes the sketch series what it is.)

They’ve made space for sketches that aren’t afraid to be niche, chaotic, and most importantly, funny. And even though that adjective is relative and hard to qualify, the fact that they pop up in almost every clip that circles the timeline and sketch that earns awards recognition is measure enough of their worth. Still, if SNL wants to be a reflection of the moment rather than just chasing it, the show’s infrastructure and some of its inherited comedic instincts might need to change.

‘SNL’ Needs To Let Its New Cast Members Take Risks

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Part of the problem might be that SNL still clings to the myth of itself as a comedy boot camp where newcomers must prove themselves worthy of airtime, often by working insane hours and with demanding and divisive talent. Those rites of passage optics are viewed by the next gen of comedy fans as problematic at best, plus they don’t seem to be benefiting the talent SNL wants to recruit. Why onboard young comedians like Longfellow and Walker if you’re not going to take risks? Why is SNL so afraid to experiment with the talent they’ve cultivated, forcing them to fit in instead of using the opportunity to branch out?

If comedy is, by its nature, fluid, defined more by the zeitgeist than anything else, why does the show insist on sticking to formulas that worked 20 years ago but may not translate to the current streaming age? The long-standing blind spots (loyalty to one-note frat guy types, reflexive celebrity worship, and a debatable definition of “edgy”) are all starting to clash with the people who are actually keeping the show culturally relevant.

There’s a new generation of talent on the roster with the ability to reshape the show’s internal machinery… if allowed. Through character-driven absurdism, identity satire that doesn’t pander, and sketches that go viral because they’re sharp and relevant, they’re offering a version of SNL that feels like comedy right now. But how long can they keep carrying that weight without the structure evolving around them? Real evolution would likely mean rethinking its entire pipeline: how it auditions, who it promotes, what kinds of voices it empowers, and whether it can finally stop treating political impressions as its most prestigious output. But is that something Michaels has the capacity or desire to do? For a show that has always billed itself as a mirror of the moment, lately, it’s looked more like a museum – too reverent and too afraid of breaking things to actually build something better.

‘SNL’ Needs To Remain a Key Part of the Comedy Conversation in Season 51

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With more cast changes already underway and long-standing members likely also packing their bags, Season 51 marks more than just a new chapter. Sure, SNL has been here before: in transition, at a creative crossroads. Every time, it’s managed to reinvent itself just enough to stay in the conversation. That’s part of the show’s genius. But this season offers a chance to do more than just survive. Instead, what if the show asked deeper questions, about what kind of comedy it wants to champion and who it’s actually speaking to in 2025? It knows how to chase ratings. It knows how to trend. But staying relevant might mean figuring out who it really wants to be in this next era.

Saturday Night Live

Release Date

October 11, 1975

Showrunner

Lorne Michaels

Directors

Dave Wilson, Don Roy King, Liz Patrick, Andy Warhol, Linda Lee Cadwell, Matthew Meshekoff, Paul Miller, Robert Altman, Robert Smigel

Writers

Will Forte, Bill Hader, Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig, Chris Parnell, Asa Taccone, John Lutz, Tom Schiller, Simon Rich, Michael Patrick O’Brien, Nicki Minaj, Herbert Sargent, Matt Piedmont, John Solomon, Chris Kelly, Alan Zweibel, Kent Sublette, Ari Katcher, Marika Sawyer, Sarah Schnedier, Scott Jung, Justin Franks, Jerrod Bettis, Rhiannon Bryan