Saturday Night Live season 50
The fiftieth season of the American sketch comedy late night television program Saturday Night Live premiered on September 28, 2024 on NBC and Peacock, with host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll, and concluded on May 17, 2025 with host Scarlett Johansson and musical guest Bad Bunny. In addition to the standard episodes hosted by celebrity guests and featuring musical acts, the series also had several months of acknowledgements, leading to a three-hour celebratory 50th anniversary special retrospective, which aired on February 16, 2025.
Cast
Prior to the start of the season, Punkie Johnson, who had been on the show for four seasons since 2020, and featured player Molly Kearney, who had been on the show for two seasons since 2022, made the decision to leave after the conclusion of the previous season. Following Johnson and Kearney's departures, fellow featured player Chloe Troast was let go after only one season on the show. The show subsequently added three new cast members: Ashley Padilla of The Groundlings, stand-up comic Emil Wakim, and TikTok sketch comedian Jane Wickline.Marcello Hernández, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, all of whom joined the cast in 2022, were promoted to repertory status.
In addition, SNL alums Dana Carvey, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg and actor/stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan, play Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff and Tim Walz, respectively, in the lead-up to the November 5, 2024 presidential election. Carvey and Samberg continued to make brief guest appearances, with Carvey continuing to portray the role of Biden. Another SNL alum Mike Myers also returned to portray Elon Musk for three episodes after Carvey portrayed Musk on the episode following the presidential election.
This was the final season for Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Longfellow and Walker, and the only season for Wakim.
Repertory players
- Michael Che
- Mikey Day
- Andrew Dismukes
- Chloe Fineman
- Heidi Gardner
- Marcello Hernández
- James Austin Johnson
- Colin Jost
- Michael Longfellow
- Ego Nwodim
- Sarah Sherman
- Kenan Thompson
- Devon Walker
- Bowen Yang
- Ashley Padilla
- Emil Wakim
- Jane Wickline
Writers
Prior to the start of the season, Allie Levitan, Moss Perricone and Carl Tart joined the writing staff.Writers Dan Bulla and Auguste White have been promoted to writing supervisors, joining current supervisors Celeste Yim and Will Stephen. Rosebud Baker is now named as a writer for Weekend Update.
Sudi Green returned as a writer during the first-half of the season.
This was the final season for Yim,, White, Baker and Please Don't Destroy's John Higgins,,. Long-term writer Steven Castillo, who previously wrote for the show from 2017 to 2021, before returning midway through season 49 in 2024, and overall wrote for seven non-consecutive seasons, would leave the show for the second time. He stated that his second run at SNL was never meant to be long-term and that he just wanted to be a part of the 50th season.
Production
In late 2021, show creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels stated that he was committed to continuing with the series through the fiftieth season and suggested that he may retire afterward. The subsequent year, Kenan Thompson speculated that the series may end if Michaels left, saying, "He's the one that's had his touch on the whole thing... It opens the opportunity for a lot of bullshit to come into the game because he's such a legend that he keeps off those corporate wolves." During season forty-nine, Michaels stated that 2000s-era member Tina Fey could be a capable successor, but insisted that he would finish the next season before any dramatic changes. He reiterated these plans in May, when a fiftieth anniversary special was announced that would celebrate the series' history on February 16, 2025. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter before the season started, Michaels denied that he would be retiring at the end of the season. Prior to the season start on September 28, NBC began airing retrospectives on the show with their mid-year coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics. Michaels had previously stated that he intended to bring back everyone from the previous decades, as well as hosts and musical guests who have helped shape the show, for the anniversary special.On July 31, it was announced that Maya Rudolph would return to portray vice president and presidential nominee Kamala Harris through the 2024 election season. The next day, cast member Punkie Johnson announced that she would be leaving the show after four years. On August 2, cast member Molly Kearney announced their departure after two seasons as a featured player. On September 9, it was announced that Chloe Troast would also be departing after one season as a featured player. On the same day, it was announced that three new cast members would be hired as featured players: Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline. Featured players Marcello Hernández, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, who joined the cast along with Kearney prior to season 48, were promoted to repertory status.
Coinciding with the fiftieth season, the biographical film Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, was released in theaters by Columbia Pictures on October 11, 2024, after a limited theatrical release on September 27, depicting the story of the show's tumultuous premiere on NBC.
This was the final season for longtime carpenter Stephen "Demo" DeMaria, who retired at the end of the season, after 50 years, since the show's inception in 1975.