Saturday Night Live finalizes Season 52 cast with two departures and two new hires
The long-running sketch show announced its Season 52 lineup, confirming the return of most existing members while adding Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie and noting the exits of Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman and Martin Herlihy.
Saturday Night Live has confirmed its ensemble for the upcoming Season 52, set to debut on Sept. 26. The lineup remains largely unchanged from the previous year, with all five first-year cast members—Ben Marshall, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, Tommy Brennan and Veronika Slowikowska—returning, along with veterans Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Michael Che and Mikey Day. Additional regulars such as Sarah Sherman, Ashley Padilla, James Austin Johnson, Marcello Hernández, Andrew Dismukes and Jane Wickline are also slated to appear.
Three performers will not be back: Bowen Yang, who left midway through Season 51, Chloe Fineman, who announced her departure in July, and Martin Herlihy, a former member of the sketch trio Please Don’t Destroy who moved to the writing staff for a season and will not return as a performer.
The show introduced two new cast members. Grace Reiter, a Wisconsin-born comedian known for her roles in Tim Robinson’s "The Chair Company" and the upcoming series "Minimum Wage," joins the troupe after auditioning in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Saidah Belo-Osagie, a New York-based filmmaker and comedian who created the solo show "Saidah Gets Closure," also earned a spot on the cast.
Season 52 will launch with NBA player Jalen Brunson as the host.