Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels says the upcoming season 51 premiere of the late-night comedy series will come with changes.
No notable cast members announced their departures from the show after the season 50 finale. But in a new interview with Puck, Michaels was asked if he was going to shake things up with a new cast for season 51.
"Yes," Michaels said, before describing how he wanted former cast members to come back and be part of the 50th season, as it marked such a monumental moment for the show.
"So, when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it. And that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions [to the cast], or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season]," Michaels said. "And we had an election."
The producer was also asked if he feels pressured to reinvent SNL for this upcoming season.
"Yeah, for sure. It’ll be announced in a week or so," Michaels said.
One cast member who won't be leaving is James Austin Johnson. Michaels confirmed Johnson will play Donald Trump on the program for the foreseeable future.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Sign Up
