After a spectacular 50th anniversary season of Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels teased some major cast shakeups heading into Season 51 and he was not bluffing. First, Devon Walker exited, with first year featured player Emil Wakim following soon after. Eventually, Michael Longfellow also announced he was let go, and Heidi Gardner was also released after eight seasons on the long-running NBC show. However, Bowen Yang is staying, and he’s opening up about conversations he’s had with Michaels about his future on the show.
Yang recently spoke with People Magazine during the One House Toast to the Emmys celebration. During that chat, the comedian opened up about deciding to stay with SNL for Season 51, despite many of his close friends, like Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim, leaving. While Nwodim expressed that it was time for her to say “goodnight,” Yang felt that his time wasn’t up just yet, and Michaels agreed that he had a lot more in front of him:
I've always gone by the instinct of, do I have more to do? And I feel like I do. Even [creator] Lorne [Michaels] and I talked about it, and Lorne was like, ‘You have more to do,’ and that means a lot, because I even confessed to him. I was like, ‘I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me.’ And he was like, ‘That's not true. There's more for you to do. I need you.’ I have to honor that. That man has changed my life, and I owe a lot of my life to that show. And I love working there, the people are the best. I really love each of them so much.
I certainly agree that Bowen Yang has more to do. He dazzled viewers with Weekend Update bits like the Titanic Iceberg, Jafar and Moo Deng. He's also proven himself to be a solid sketch player. Given the success of Yang's Las Culturistas podcast as well, I think it’s safe to say he's built a solid following. I'd personally like to see more of him and hope he gets plenty of time to shine amid Saturday Night Live Season 51. As for whether or not Yang has a game plan for his career, he had this to say:
I let that go, and I think it served me well. I like having no road map. If there's any place to do that, it's SNL, where it's week to week. Sometimes you're up for the challenge. Sometimes you show up even if you aren't, and that's kind of what makes interesting things happen.
Along with Yang and other favorites returning, exciting new SNL cast members have also been announced, and there are some young faces in the mix. Ben Marshall of Please Do Not Destroy is now part of the cast, and newcomers like Kam Patterson and Tommy Brennan are also joining the ensemble. There’s a lot of strong potential, though it will admittedly be strange to see a Season 51 cast without some stars who have added so much to the show for years.
Although it's tough to see some Saturday Night Live stars go, these comments from Bowen Yang actually have me excited for Season 51. Lorne Michaels has strong instincts and knows when a cast member has worn out their welcome, or when they have more to showcase. For the Wicked star, he has a lot more to offer, and so do returning cast members like Colin Jost, James Austin Johnson and Marcello Hernández. Some of these cast shakeups may seem shocking, but I’d never underestimate Michaels when it comes to having a plan.
You can check out Bowen Yang and the rest of the cast on Season 51 of SNL, which premieres on NBC at 11:30 EST on October 4 amid the 2025 TV schedule. Fans of the show can also check out previous episodes of the beloved sketch show now by streaming it with a Peacock subscription.
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