Creator Lorne Michaels says SNL season 51 cast turmoil is "how it revives itself"

SNL season 51 will lean into change by design. Creator Lorne Michaels said the cast turmoil is “how it revives itself,” positioning Saturday Night Live’s turnover as renewal, not crisis. As per an Entertainment Weekly report dated September 15, 2025, Lorne Michaels stated,

“The show has always brought people in from different ages and different generations and it’s how it revives itself”

He made the point on the Emmys red carpet while celebrating SNL50: The Anniversary Special. He also underscored a demographic focus:

“our audience has always stayed relatively young, and more so now with TikTok,”

and reiterated,

“Change is good… The people we’re bringing in, I’m really excited about.”

For viewers tracking SNL Season 51, the premiere is scheduled for Saturday, October 4, 2025, at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and will be streaming on Peacock the same night. The refreshed ensemble adds five featured players while stalwarts like Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Colin Jost, Michael Che, and Chloe Fineman continue, exactly the blend Michaels describes as the show’s engine.

What Lorne Michaels actually said and why the shake-up is happening now

Michaels framed SNL season 51 as the start of a new cycle after the 50th-anniversary lap. As per Entertainment Weekly's report dated September 15, 2025, Lorne Michaels remarked,

“The show has always brought people in from different ages and different generations and it’s how it revives itself.”

He acknowledged the difficulty of departures but tied them to audience reality:

“It’s always hard when people leave, but there’s a time for that and our audience has always stayed relatively young, and more so now with TikTok.”

He then reiterated the operating principle for SNL season 51:

“Change is good… The people we’re bringing in, I’m really excited about.”

The comments came at the 77th Emmys, where SNL50: The Anniversary Special won Live Variety Special, offering on-camera context for the reset that SNL season 51 will carry into Studio 8H.

Who’s out, who’s in for SNL season 51

Departures before SNL season 51 include Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner, along with Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Emil Wakim. Returning are Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernández, Colin Jost, Michael Che, and others. SNL season 51 adds five featured players: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, Veronika Slowikowska, and Ben Marshall, who moves from Please Don’t Destroy digital shorts to on-camera status. NBC’s announcement also locks these five as the incoming group for SNL season 51.

What it means for SNL season 51: Premiere, tone, and the overview

SNL season 51 premieres Saturday, October 4, 2025, at 11:30/10:30c on NBC and streams on Peacock. Michaels’ red-carpet line about a “relatively young” audience hints at a short-form discovery strategy: cast choices aligned with TikTok-native sketch sensibilities and digital-forward bits. As per the People report dated September 14, 2025, Lorne Michaels said,

“It’s essential that we bring new people in every year.”

He also added,

"The longest four years of your life are high school, and I think that's when people tend to attach to a cast, and that is the age of our audience in a way,....The old audience is there, but they fall asleep early....As the audience changes, so does the comedy."

That is the guiding premise for SNL season 51’s mix of continuity and churn. For SNL season 51, viewers should watch how fast the five new featured players land recurring characters, how Weekend Update calibrates for an election year, and how Ben Marshall’s on-camera presence reshapes the Please Don’t Destroy DNA in live sketches and pre-tapes.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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