'Saturday Night Live' Is Hemorrhaging Players and Writers Ahead of Season 51 — Why?

Fans of Saturday Night Live have been feeling lost and adrift at sea following several shake-ups at the long-running sketch comedy show ahead of Season 51. The last time the show felt this precarious was back in 1985 when none of the original cast members returned for Season 11. The Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night graciously referred to this as the Weird Year.

Even though creator Lorne Michaels hasn't torn down the show to its studs for Season 51, the number of exits is making us feel very nervous. While some of the folks leaving were relatively new to the show, at least one fan favorite is taking a hike. Is no one safe from whatever this is? Let's take a look at why so many people are leaving SNL.

While we can't say for sure why each individual player or writer is parting ways with Saturday Night Live, we do know what is going on inside the mysterious mind of Lorne Michaels. The king of sketch comedy gave a rare interview to Puck News, in which he told Matthew Belloni that he wanted to keep the core cast members together for the show's 50th season. He has other ideas for everything after.

His reason for keeping things tight during Season 50 was all the stakes involved. Lorne knew there would be several returning cast members throughout the season, like Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig, so he wanted stability amongst the actual cast. The fact that it was an election year also played a part in Lorne's decision to keep things as steady as possible. He told Matt that Season 51 would come with a lot of change, but didn't explain why.

As of this writing, four players and two writers are exiting the show ahead of its 51st season. Celeste Yim, the show’s first openly transgender writer, broke the news in an emotional post to their Instagram. Five years after they were hired at the age of 23 via a phone call from Lorne, Celeste was leaving. Like many people who have worked at SNL, Celeste referenced the grueling hours and utter exhaustion that accompany the job. Despite that, they were grateful for the opportunity.

Writer Rosebud Baker is also leaving after three years at SNL. She confirmed her exit to LateNighter contributor Jon Schneider, who hosts the outlet's partner podcast, Saturday Night Network. While she hasn't said anything on social media, the standup comic steadily tours and had a child in October 2023. Long nights at SNL were probably not ideal.

Two cast members who are leaving did not get a fair shake on the show. Devon Walker started in 2022 and was incredibly funny, though woefully underused. In his Instagram post regarding the big news, he assured fans that all was OK, adding that sometimes people just don't see eye-to-eye. Emil Wakim had been on the show for a single season but was still devastated by the news of his firing, which he found out about while at Six Flags.

The remaining two cast members leaving are the hardest to understand. Michael Longfellow sounded as shocked as we are when he learned he wouldn't be back for what would be his fourth season. In an Instagram post, Michael said he felt nothing but gratitude, thanked Lorne, expressed sadness over no longer seeing his friends, but felt excited for the future. The biggest surprise exit is that of Heidi Gardner, who was on the show for eight seasons. The fan favorite has not spoken publicly about it.