Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive show news, updates, and more!
Saturday Night Live Season 50 Cast Members: The Complete List
SNL premieres on September 28—here are the new cast members and returning players who'll be onstage at 11:30/10:30c on NBC and Peacock.
After mere weeks of planning and little more than days of rehearsal, the Season 50 cast of Saturday Night Live will soon stage a show, performing together on your TV screen for the very first time.
Starting strong with SNL's season premiere on September 28 hosted by Jean Smart with Musical Guest Jelly Roll, the show welcomes back a strong lineup of return Hosts for 2024-2025's milestone 50th year (and an array of guest stars, like Maya Rudolph). But even if you're a member of the SNL Five-Timers Club like November 2 Host John Mulaney, this will be their first performance with this cast, and that's exciting.
In addition to much of the Season 49 cast returning, the premiere will also introduce viewers to three new cast members: Featured Players Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, and Jane Wickline. Season 50 will also include new work from comedy trio Please Don't Destroy's Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy, and John Higgins (who contended with some office pigeons upon their return to 30 Rock this year).
So who's returning from last year? Check out SNL's Season 50 cast below.
RELATED: SNL Is Celebrating 50 Years with a 3-Hour Primetime Special
Which SNL Season 49 cast members are coming back for SNL 50?
Season 49 cast members James Austin Johnson, Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Bowen Yang, and longest-running-cast-member Kenan Thompson are set to return.
Marcello Hernández, Devon Walker, and Michael Longfellow, who first joined the cast as Featured Players in Season 48, become Repertory Players in Season 50.
RELATED: Why the First Saturday Night Live Cast Were Called The Not Ready for Prime Time Players
Who is in the SNL Season 50 cast?
SNL Season 50 Repertory Players
Michael Che
Michael Che has co-anchored SNL’s "Weekend Update" alongside Colin Jost since 2014. The stand-up comic and writer was also one of the show's head writers from 2017-2023 alongside Colin Jost.
An eight-time Emmy nominee for his work on SNL, Che was a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He's a New York City native, raised in Manhattan.
When it comes to the cultural meaning of SNL 50, Che told The Hollywood Reporter, "I try not to think about it in the macro — in season 51, we can look back at 50 and say what was special about it, but it’s impossible to determine what is going to be special. You can’t plan for a perfect moment."
RELATED: Colin Jost & Michael Che Crashed Jimmy Fallon's Monologue to Tell Summer News Jokes
Mikey Day
Mikey Day joined SNL as a writer during Season 39 before becoming a Featured Player in 2016. If you're a fan of the wildly popular "Haunted Elevator" sketch, otherwise known as the birth of Tom Hanks' David S. Pumpkins, you can thank Day (he co-wrote it with fellow skeleton Bobby Moynihan). He's from Orange County, California.
RELATED: Seth Meyers Names the "Perfect Sketch" Mikey Day Co-Wrote for Nate Bargatze's SNL
Among Day's memorable Season 49 moments (and a victory for the show's hair department, who nabbed an Emmy for the episode): His team-up with Host Ryan Gosling for the viral "Beavis and Butt-Head" sketch.
Andrew Dismukes
Stand-up comic and writer Dismukes joined as a Featured Player in 2020, after starting as a writer in 2017. Dismukes hails from Port Neches, Texas.
Chloe Fineman
Chloe Fineman is a TV and movie actress who is also known as a master celebrity impressionist. Both on the show and on her Instagram, Fineman has showcased uncanny celebrity impersonations that include Britney Spears, Nicole Kidman, Timothée Chalamet, Anna Delvey, and more.
From Berkeley, California, Fineman joined SNL in Season 45 in 2019.
Heidi Gardner
Joining SNL in 2017 with seven seasons under her belt, Heidi Gardner is the longest-running female member of the current cast.
The actress and comedian is known for original characters like Carla, the Famous '80s Cocaine Wife, Angel, Every Boxer’s Girlfriend, and more she's showcased on "Weekend Update." A massive Chiefs fan, Gardner is from Kansas City, Missouri.
Marcello Hernández
Joining the cast as a Featured Player in Season 48, Hernández soon distinguished himself as a performer in sketches like "Spanish Class" during Host Ana de Armas' episode, and "Protective Mom" co-starring Emmy-nominated Host Pedro Pascal.
The stand-up comedian has also won praise for his writing on the show, particularly for co-writing Spanish-language sketches like "The Age of Discovery" with Season 49 Host Bad Bunny and the recurring "Protective Mom" starring Pascal — which he's revealed was partly inspired by his own mother. Hernández is from Miami, Florida.
James Austin Johnson
Like Chloe Fineman, James Austin Johnson had gained online fame for his incredible impressions prior to being cast on SNL — particularly, the uncannily-accurate take on Donald Trump that he brought to the show.
But the Nashville, Tennessee native's talent in sketches extends past his range of impersonations, which includes President Joe Biden (also portrayed by Mikey Day), Mitch McConnell, and late basketball broadcaster Bill Walton. Johnson has been part of the SNL cast since Season 47.
Colin Jost
Staten Island's own Colin Jost started out as a writer for SNL in 2005, joining the cast in 2014 to co-host "Weekend Update." He is the segment's longest-running anchor to date, breaking Seth Meyers' previous record.
While Jost is no longer a head writer, he takes an active role in writing for the show — prime example: Bowen Yang's cold open as former Congressman George Santos singing "Scandal in the Wind" from Season 49.
Michael Longfellow
Longfellow is a stand-up comic and writer who joined the cast in Season 48, and after his two-season tenure as a Featured Player he's become a Repertory Player. He was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona.
Ego Nwodim
Actress and comedian Ego Nwodim joined the SNL cast in 2018. A seasoned improviser, Nwodim has also been a recurring guest on long-running podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! since 2017. SNL work that Nwodim's best known for includes her Dionne Warwick impression and the character Lisa from Temecula, first introduced in Season 48.
In July 2024, Nwodim co-starred with Adam Pally and NBA player Steph Curry in the mock-documentary Peacock sitcom Mr. Throwback. She is from Baltimore, Maryland.
Sarah Sherman
Sarah Sherman joined the cast in Season 47 and was promoted to Repertory Player status in Season 49.
Performing for live audiences as "Sarah Squirm," the actress and stand-up comic is known for her love of body horror that incorporates heavy makeup, effects, and even prostheses, both onstage and in SNL pretaped sketches like Season 49's "Battle of the Sexes" and "The Anomalous Man."
Sherman is from Long Island, New York.
Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson's comedy career dates back to his days as a child star: Millennial fans of sketch comedy have known him since his star-making run as a young star of Nickelodeon's All That. Decades later, Thompson continues to hold the title of longest-running SNL cast member of all time, with 21 years on the show.
Without Thompson, we wouldn't have the iconic game show sketches "Black Jeopardy" and "Family Feud," where he performs a spot-on impression of Steve Harvey. And who can forget the delightful chaos that is "What Up with That?"
RELATED: Every Host of Saturday Night Live Season 50
Devon Walker
First joining the cast in Season 48, Devon Walker is a stand-up comic who previously wrote for shows like Big Mouth and Freeform's Everything's Trash. Walker's celebrity impressions on SNL include Draymond Green, Tim Scott, and Shannon Sharpe. Walker is from Austin, Texas.
RELATED: Watch Will Ferrell, Bowen Yang & John Oliver Star in Unaired SNL Sketch
Bowen Yang
Joining the show as a staff writer in Season 44, Bowen Yang has been an SNL cast member since 2019. In 2024, Yang was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series, his fourth Emmy nomination and his third in that category.
Yang's made hilarious contributions in sketches and on "Weekend Update," with impressions like George Santos and characters like Chinese trade minister Chen Biao. He also co-hosts the popular Las Culturistas podcast with actor Matt Rogers.
Who are SNL Season 50's new cast members?
Saturday Night Live's newest Featured Players are Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, and Jane Wickline. The show announced the new cast additions on September 9, 2024.
Ashley Padilla
Ashley Padilla, a San Francisco Bay Area Native, has been a member of the Groundlings Main Company since 2021.
Emil Wakim
Lebanese-American stand-up comedian, actor and writer Emil Walkim made his NBC late night debut on The Tonight Show in April 2022. Wakim was also a New Face of Comedy at the 2022 Just for Laughs Comedy Festival. He was born in Chicago and raised in Bloomington, Indiana.
RELATED: Emil Wakim Just Joined the SNL Season 50 Cast! Watch His Tonight Show Stand-Up
Jane Wickline
Like several cast members before her, Jane Wickline arrives at 30 Rock having already amassed a large following for her comedy online: She has almost 1 million TikTok followers.
She was a cast member on Tik Tok’s live show, “Stapleview,” and performs sketch comedy on tour. Wickline is from Los Angeles.
Who is Saturday Night Live's announcer?
Darrell Hammond.
Darrell Hammond was an SNL cast member from 1995-2009, particularly known for his impressions of Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Al Gore, to name just a (very) few. Before Kenan Thompson broke his record, he was SNL's longest-running cast member. Hammond became SNL's announcer in Season 40 following the death of Don Pardo.
At 53, Hammond was the oldest cast member on the show at the time of his departure (though Leslie Jones was the oldest person ever to be cast on SNL at age 47; Hammond was 39 when he first joined).
