‘Saturday Night Live’ veteran Ego Nwodim is the latest to leave the show

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The latest “Saturday Night Live” star to leave the cast is one of the show’s brightest: Ego Nwodim, who announced her departure from the late-night variety show on Instagram on Friday morning.

“The hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight. But after seven unforgettable seasons, I have decided to leave SNL,” Nwodim wrote in an Instagram Story. She thanked longtime SNL producer Lorne Michaels “for the opportunity,” as well as the show’s cast, crew and writers for their “brilliance, support and friendship.”

Nwodim’s unexpected departure is the latest – and arguably the biggest – shake-up to hit SNL going into its 51st season.

Five of the 17 cast members (plus one writer) from Season 50 are now leaving, in the largest exodus of cast members since 2022, when eight people left ahead of Season 48. While the exact reasons for the departures are not clear, several of the exiting cast members have suggested it was not their choice to go.

Entertainment outlets have described the exodus as an “earthquake” or “bloodbath.”

Michaels, the creator and executive producer of SNL, told Puck News last month that he would be making changes before the start of the 51st season on Oct. 4. Asked whether he was going to “shake things up” and whether he felt “pressure to reinvent” the coming season, he said yes, adding that he had wanted to avoid any “disruptions” during the 50th season, which involved a half-century anniversary special and an election.

Michaels also confirmed that one cast member is definitely staying: James Austin Johnson will continue to portray President Donald Trump.

Here are the cast and crew members leaving so far and what they have said about their departures.

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Ego Nwodim

Nwodim was a breakout star on the show, standing out in recent seasons for viral characters such as “Lisa from Temecula” and her comic alter ego “Miss Eggy.”

She joined SNL as a featured player in 2018 and was promoted to the regular cast in 2020.

Her departure announcement Friday came as a shock to many who had been following the SNL cast shake-up. As recently as Monday, Nwodim was one of the 13 cast members who had been confirmed to return for the upcoming season, per the Wrap.

Nwodim was an audience favorite in recent years, regularly appearing in the show’s end-of-season “most watched” compilations. “Lisa From Temecula” was the third-most-viewed sketch from Season 48 on SNL’s YouTube channel, in no small part due to Nwodim’s ability to make her castmates break character.

Her performance as Miss Eggy on “Weekend Update” last season led to rumors that SNL had been fined by the Federal Communications Commission. During the segment, Nwodim, embodying a raunchy 1990s-era comedian, pointed her mic at the audience in a profane call-and-response.

“These men ain’t what?” Nwodim prompted. The audience replied with an expletive. Behind her, castmates Colin Jost and Michael Che could be seen bending over in laughter.

Not missing a beat, Nwodim responded, “Lorne gonna be mad at y’all.”

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Devon Walker

Stand-up comic Devon Walker, who played characters including Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) and NBA star Draymond Green, joined the cast in Season 48 and became a regular cast member in Season 50.

In a tongue-in-cheek Instagram post titled “me and baby broke up,” Walker announced his departure, sharing a screenshot of a note titled: “wait…did he quit or did he get fired?”

In his post, he likened jobs in the industry to “a bunch of little marriages,” most of which are “fleeting.”

“Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool,” Walker wrote. “Sometimes it was toxic as hell. But … we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction.”

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Michael Longfellow

Michael Longfellow, who announced his departure in late August, hinted that he was not leaving on his own accord, posting that he wished he was returning for his fourth season with the show, “but, so it goes.”

“It was the best three years of my life so far,” Longfellow said in a post on Instagram. “I feel nothing but gratitude for the experience and everyone there.”

Longfellow joined the cast in Season 48 and became a repertory player in Season 50, playing characters including “goth kid on vacation” and a “resident boyfriend” discussing weaponized incompetence on “Weekend Update.”

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Heidi Gardner

Longtime cast member Heidi Gardner will not be returning for Season 51, according to Variety and Rolling Stone. Representatives for Gardner did not respond to a request for comment.

Gardner joined the show in 2017 and was the longest-running female member of last year’s cast, playing characters such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem and Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator during Trump’s first term.

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Emil Wakim

Emil Wakim, the show’s first Lebanese American cast member, played memorable characters such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a skit about Trump’s trip to the Middle East and “guy who looks like Luigi Mangione” in a sketch about the man charged with fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Wakim, who joined the cast for Season 50, indicated in the social media announcement of his departure that he had been let go, calling it “a gut punch of a call to get.”

He described his time with the show as “the most terrifying, thrilling, and rewarding experience” of his life, adding that he will “miss it dearly and all the brilliant people that work there that made it feel like a home.”

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Celeste Yim

Celeste Yim, the show’s first openly transgender writer, said that after five seasons, Season 50 would be their last.

“I always felt honored to be working within the long tradition of queer writing at the show. … I feel so powerless to protect trans people in the world but writing connects us and makes us permanent, so it’s what I will continue to do,” Yim wrote.

They added that the job was “grueling and I slept in my office every week” and that “I got yelled at by random famous men … BUT I loved it and I laughed every day.”

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09-12-2025 09:57PM