Saturday Night Live still hasn't figured out its official Season 42 premiere date, but at least one thing has finally been cemented for the upcoming episodes: The cast. A few scant weeks after learning a couple of cast members and a featured player will be leaving NBC's late night sketch comedy series, NBC has finally confirmed who will be back. Notably, it looks like there will be no more cuts heading into Season 42. You can check out the full cast list, below:
Vanessa BayerBeck BennettAidy BryantMichael ChePete DavidsonLeslie JonesColin JostKate McKinnonKyle MooneyBobby MoynihanCecily StrongKenan ThompsonSasheer Zamata
If you haven't been keeping tabs on all of the big changes SNL has made in recent weeks, you may just now be noticing a few big names that are missing from this list. A short time ago, we learned Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah would not be coming back for the upcoming season of the NBC series. Further news broke noting they had both signed on with the subscription cable channel Showtime for projects. They wouldn't be the last people to leave the series. Saturday Night Live also revealed that feature player Jon Rudnitsky had been let go right around the same time.
Saturday Night Live has had a pretty full cast over the past couple of seasons, and now Splitsider reveals the show will not be adding any new additions for Season 42. Well, at least there won't be any more changes in terms of its onscreen cast. The show did promote Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider to new head writers recently, as well.
It took some time for SNL to hit a stride after the loss of Kristin Wiig. Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah were big components in ushering Saturday Night Live into its current era. However, it's been pretty clear lately that the ladies of SNL---Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant, Vanessa Bayer and Sasheer Zamata---have just dominated some of the funniest sketches from the past couple of seasons. The guys are still big contributors, too, although it is a shame we are losing such big talents in the versatile Killam and the impression-oriented Pharoah.
Saturday Night Live usually kicks off in the fall on NBC, although we often get new episodes a short time later than many of the fall premieres. NBC should be giving us an official date sooner rather than later, and we'll let you know just as soon as we know when Season 42 is heading to the network. In the meantime, you can take a look at when our fall favorites will be returning with our TV premiere schedule.
