Saturday Night Live is making some cast changes before its upcoming 47th season: Beck Bennett, who joined the cast in 2013, and Lauren Holt, who was made a featured cast member last season, are out.
The Emmy-winning sketch show also announced the addition of new featured cast members Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman. Meanwhile, Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman — both of whom, incidentally, do double duty on Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens — have been upped from featured performers to the main cast.
Saturday Night Live returns on October 2 with host Owen Wilson and musical guest Casey Musgraves. The show’s other returning cast members are Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Melissa Villaseñor, and the show’s most-senior star, Kenan Thompson.
On his Instagram, Bennett wrote, “Love you, SNL. Gonna miss you so much. Thank you for 8 years
of remarkable people and incredible experiences that completely changed my life. I had so much fun,” and also shared pics of some of his favorite memories and folks behind the scenes, including his last table read with Mooney, and, well, his “nipps.”
Holt hasn’t acknowledged the career change on her social media.
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