Saturday Night Live season 51
The fifty-first season of the American sketch comedy late night television program Saturday Night Live premiered on October 4, 2025 on NBC and Peacock during the 2025–26 television season, with host Bad Bunny and musical guest Doja Cat, and will conclude on May 16, 2026. In the season, the series reached a milestone: airing its 1,000th episode, on January 31, 2026, with host Alexander Skarsgård and musical guest Cardi B.
Cast
On August 22, 2025, prior to the start of the season, creator/executive producer Lorne Michaels confirmed that changes to the cast were guaranteed and that announcements about any changes would be made in the following weeks.Beginning on August 25, a series of departures was announced, starting with Devon Walker, followed later by featured player Emil Wakim, Michael Longfellow, Heidi Gardner, and Ego Nwodim.
On September 2, 2025, five new featured cast members were announced: stand-up comic Tommy Brennan, Upright Citizens Brigade performer and Dropout TV regular Jeremy Culhane, stand-up comic and Kill Tony podcast regular Kam Patterson, social media comedian and actress Veronika Slowikowska, and Ben Marshall, SNL staff writer and member of the comedy trio and former SNL collaborators, Please Don't Destroy. PDD's time on SNL ended after four seasons as John Higgins departed the show while Martin Herlihy remained in a writing-only capacity.
Michaels also confirmed that James Austin Johnson would return, noting that the show would rely on Johnson's Donald Trump impersonation for the foreseeable future.
This was the final season for longtime cast member Bowen Yang, as he left the show following the Christmas episode hosted by his Wicked co-star, Ariana Grande, on December 20, 2025. He is the sixth cast member to leave the show in 2025, following the former cast members listed above.
Repertory playersMichael Che
- Mikey Day
- Andrew Dismukes
- Chloe Fineman
- Marcello Hernández
- James Austin JohnsonColin Jost
- Sarah Sherman
- Kenan Thompson
- Bowen Yang
- Tommy Brennan
- Jeremy Culhane
- Ben Marshall
- Ashley Padilla
- Kam Patterson
- Veronika Slowikowska
- Jane Wickline
Writers
On August 24, 2025, writer Celeste Yim announced, via Instagram, that they had left the show after five seasons. Yim joined the writing staff in 2020 and became the show's first openly trans, non-binary writer. They also became a writing supervisor in the second half of season 48. The next day, Rosebud Baker, a writer since 2022 who was appointed as a Weekend Update writer the previous season, announced she also had left the show after nearly three seasons. On September 2, 2025, it was announced that Please Don't Destroy member John Higgins, who had been a writer on SNL since 2021, would be leaving after four seasons. On September 4, 2025, long-term writer Steven Castillo announced his departure. Castillo 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. 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.On September 30, 2025, prior to the start of the season, seven new writers—Jack Bensinger, Tucker Flodman, Maxwell Gay, Claire McFadden, Rachel Pegram, Jo Sunday, and Maddie Wiener—were all hired. At the same time, Auguste White, a writer who joined in 2022, had left the show after three seasons.
Additionally, long time senior writer Bryan Tucker is on a temporary leave from the show, longtime writer/producer Erik Kenward has been promoted to head writer, and longtime producer Erin Doyle has been promoted to top-level producer alongside Kenward and Steve Higgins.