Beck Bennett leaves SNL after eight years as three new cast members join for Season 47

The Hollywood Reporter

Bennett is exiting Saturday Night Live along with Lauren Holt, a featured player who joined last season, ahead of this week's Season 47 premiere. The rest of the cast will return, including Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Pete Davidson. As expected, Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman have been promoted to the regular cast after two seasons. "Love you, SNL. Gonna miss you so much," Bennett, who joined as a featured player in 2013, wrote on Instagram accompanied by behind-the-scenes photos. "Thank you for 8 years of remarkable people and incredible experiences. that completely changed my life I had so much fun." Bennett famously portrayed Sen. Mitch McConnell, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, former Vice President Mike Pence and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Joining the Season 47 cast are three new featured players: comedian and Silicon Valley vet Aristotle Athari, a member of Hasan Minaj’s sketch group Goatface; comic and actor James Austin Johnson, an impressionist known for his viral Donald Trump impression; and writer and actress Sarah Sherman, who goes by the online name Sarah Squirm, who has already tackled the pandemic in a "The Sarah Vaccine" sketch for Means TV. As was the case last year, SNL will allow some cast members to take time off to work on other projects.