The premiere of Saturday Night Live's milestone 50th season is just weeks away in the 2024 TV schedule, but that evidently doesn't mean that the show is out of surprises as the end of hiatus approaches. After the departures of two cast members over the summer, another veteran of Season 49 won't be back. Chloe Troast, who joined SNL to start Season 49 last year, will not return for Season 50.
Now former SNL featured player Chloe Troast confirmed the news herself on social media. She posted this message on Instagram:
Unfortunately I was not asked back to SNL this season. I wish I was going back to be with all the amazing friends I made there, it truly felt like home. But it wasn't in the cards. I wanna thank everyone who supported me. Especially everyone who came to see my tour this summer, wore costumes from characters and had such wonderful things to say. You mean everything to me. I hope I was able to spread joy and laughter, all love. Onwards and upwards.
Troast didn't go into any detail about why she wasn't asked back for Season 50, but Deadline reports the additions of three newcomers to the Saturday Night Live cast with Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, and Jane Wickline on board. News of Troast's departure comes weeks after Punkie Johnson announced that she was leaving ahead of the 50th season, followed by Molly Kearney confirming their exit after two seasons shortly after.
While fans will have to revisit Season 49 streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription for Troast's full run of SNL, current and former members of the Saturday Night Live team dropped comments on her Instagram post to praise and support her:
- Marcello Hernández: "Chloe the orphan with an incredible voice"
- Molly Kearney: "You’re a genius and a star and the people love you"
- Ben Marshall: "Love you forever"
- Ana Gasteyer: "Still in the club. Can’t wait to see where you go 🔥"
- Chloe Fineman: "Bigger and Better things. I love you so so much and you were a big big light this year. Chloe supremacy, always ❤️❤️"
- Ego Nwodim: "❤️❤️❤️"
- Sarah Sherman: "🫡🫡🫡 love u 🫡🫡🫡"
Saturday Night Love hasn't just added some new cast members for Season 50 following Chloe Troast, Molly Kearney, and Punkie Johnson's confirmed exits; featured players Marcello Hernandez, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker have all been promoted to main cast status. I personally can't say that I expected further cast changes ahead of Season 50 when the premiere is coming up so soon in September, but perhaps it's best to expect the unexpected for the sketch comedy's milestone season.
And Season 50 is set up to be something special. Former star Maya Rudolph is set to return to reprise her role as Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election, and the level of buzz about it is such that the actress has "never experienced anything like this before." Molly Shannon got real about big names returning to the SNL stomping grounds for Lorne Michaels, although the Superstar actress stopped short of confirming her own return.
At this point, it seems like a safe bet that the major players of Season 50 will be back, despite the cast changes over the summer. The premiere will air on Saturday, September 28 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC, and stream afterwards via Peacock. At the time of writing, the host for the first episode of Season 50 has not yet been announced, although I'd be surprised if the cold open doesn't feature Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris.
