Saturday Night Live could be about to face one of its biggest cast shake-ups in a long time with four main cast members expected to the leave the long-running show at the end of the current season. Reported by Variety, the end of season 47 is now likely to be the end of the road for Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney, with some rumors suggesting that the May 21 show could see a huge send-off for the group.
Reports originally surfaced that Pete Davidson would be stepping away from his role on the show after this weekend’s episode, but it soon became apparent that there were some major changes coming as more names were added to the list of leavers who will make this weekend their last appearance. The four stars said to be leaving have all been with the show for more than eight seasons and are some of the longest serving cast members, with other old-timers including Colin Jost, Cecily Strong, Michael Che and Kenan Thompson, who holds the record as the longest serving cast member in the show’s history.
Of course, stars such as Davidson and McKinnon have been exceptionally busy of late, and have had to take time out of SNL to work on other projects. Davidson has been working on movies such as The Home and the series Bupkis on Peacock, while McKinnon has recently been working on Joe vs. Carole for the streamer. Davidson has been part of the currently huge SNL cast since 2014, when he joined as one of the show’s youngest ever cast members, while McKinnon and Bryant have been on board since 2012, and Mooney made her first appearance in 2013.
While there has been no official confirmation at this time, it looks pretty certain that all four will take their final bow this weekend, although Davidson’s final sketch for the show has already been pre-recorded with rapper Gunna, Simon Rex and Chris Redd.
Saturday Night Live Recently Sparked Backlash After Spoofing the Johnny Depp Trial
While Saturday Night Live is known for having a laugh at the expense of some of the biggest stories in pop culture, its recent spoofing of the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial, which saw many fans reacting negatively on social media. The cold open segment of last Saturday’s show took aim at the ongoing trial, and focused mostly on the allegation that Heard defecated in the bed of Johnny Depp.
"This is really gross guys," one viewer wrote following the airing of the sketch. "How did so many people approve this and think it's okay to make fun of an ongoing trial of such sensitivity?"
Another commented, "So y’all saw a case involving testimonies about domestic violence, substance abuse, sexual assault, emotional trauma, mental illness, and medical emergencies including people losing actual body parts… and your first thought was 'this would be a funny sketch for our comedy show!'”
However, this is all par for the course with the SNL team, and this weekend’s host Natasha Lyonne will help to bring a new wave of potentially controversial sketches to NBC as season 47 comes to a close.