Saturday Night Live's cast has been thinning out this week ahead of Season 51, with the departures of three of the newer actors as well as one writer. After boss Lorne Michaels' comments, I was resigned to more cuts happening before SNL returns this fall in the 2025 TV schedule, but I wasn't expecting somebody with as many seasons behind her as Heidi Gardner to exit after Season 50.
Heidi Gardner is leaving SNL after she completed her eighth season, according to Variety, which kept her on board the cast through the milestone Season 50 celebrations. This makes hers the biggest SNL exit of summer hiatus so far. All eight of her seasons can be revisited with a Peacock subscription now.
Devon Walker was the first cut this week after three seasons on SNL, and he would frame it as "good news" and time for him to "do something different." Emil Wakim, who brought a unique Middle Eastern perspective to the show, is out after one season. Michael Longfellow is also leaving after three seasons, to the dismay of fans. Plus, "Weekend Update" writer Rosebud Baker revealed her exit as well.
But Heidi Gardner? If you'd asked me prior to the news on August 28, I would have listed her close to Kenan Thompson among cast members unlikely to but cut ahead of Season 51. That said, there is a possible silver lining. While the comedian has not yet commented on the reports at the time of writing, her exit might have been entirely voluntary unlike the other three cast members who won't be back.
Speaking with Craig Ferguson on his Joy podcast back in February, Heidi Gardner shared that she still enjoyed her work on the show eight seasons in, and she couldn't "really imagine a world where I'm gonna get to do this to this degree again" because she loves playing characters. That said, she also sounded a bit weary of the SNL grind, telling Ferguson:
I will say the only thing that I've started to feel a little bit is just sketch fatigue, or idea fatigue, in the way that at this point after doing Groundlings and SNL for so long, I'm like, 'I've written a lot of sketches!' [laughs] You just get scared and it does happen some weeks where I'm like, 'I do not have an idea for a sketch, a game, or a character.' Luckily we have amazing writers at the show that will be like, 'I have an idea for you.' That's the only thing that has gotten a little tough.
Gardner has also branched out from sketch comedy in recent years, including voice acting on projects like Good Times, Leo, and Yes We Cannabis, as well as live-action appearances in You (available streaming now with a Netflix subscription) and Shrinking (streaming now with an Apple TV+ subscription). Considering her longevity at SNL, her background with The Groundlings, and her various work outside of live sketch comedy, she seems most likely to have chosen to leave the NBC hit in contrast to her three former castmates who were cut this week.
Hopefully Gardner will speak out about her exit from Saturday Night Live sooner rather than later, and ideally give some hint of what she plans to do next in her career. Per Deadline, she had been in talks to star in a pilot for NBC, although nothing seems to have come from that at this point, and Kenan Thompson branching out from SNL for a sitcom didn't work long-term. For now, we can only wait for news from Gardner as well as to learn if more SNL cast departures are on the way ahead of Season 51.
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