Saturday Night Live season 51

Saturday Night Live
Season 51
No. of episodes	3
Release
Original network	NBC and Peacock
Original release	October 4, 2025 (2025-10-04) – present
Season chronology
← Previous Season 50
List of episodes

The fifty-first season of the American sketch comedy late night television program Saturday Night Live premiered on October 4, 2025 ^[1] on NBC and Peacock during the 2025–26 television season, with host Bad Bunny and musical guest Doja Cat. In the season, the series is expected to reach a milestone, scheduled to air its 1,000th episode. ^[2]

Cast

On August 22, 2025, prior to the start of the season, creator/executive producer Lorne Michaels confirmed that changes to the cast were guaranteed and that announcements about any changes would be made in the following weeks. ^[3]

Beginning on August 25, a series of departures was announced, starting with Devon Walker (who had been on the show for three seasons since 2022), followed later by featured player Emil Wakim (who was let go after one season), Michael Longfellow (also three seasons since 2022), Heidi Gardner (eight seasons since 2017), and Ego Nwodim (seven seasons since 2018). ^{[4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

On September 2, 2025, five new featured cast members were announced: stand-up comic Tommy Brennan, Upright Citizens Brigade performer and Dropout TV regular Jeremy Culhane, stand-up comic and Kill Tony podcast regular Kam Patterson, social media comedian and actress Veronika Slowikowska, and Ben Marshall, SNL staff writer and member of the comedy trio and former SNL collaborators, Please Don't Destroy. ^[9] PDD's time on SNL ended after four seasons (2021 – 2025) as, along with Marshall's promotion, John Higgins departed the show and Martin Herlihy remains solely as part of the writing staff.

Michaels also confirmed that James Austin Johnson will return, noting that the show would rely on Johnson's Donald Trump impersonation for the foreseeable future. ^[10]

Repertory players Michael Che Mikey Day Andrew Dismukes Chloe Fineman Marcello Hernández James Austin Johnson Colin Jost Sarah Sherman Kenan Thompson Bowen Yang

Featured players Tommy Brennan Jeremy Culhane Ben Marshall Ashley Padilla Kam Patterson Veronika Slowikowska Jane Wickline

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Writers

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § Season 51 (2025–26)

On August 24, 2025, writer Celeste Yim announced, via Instagram, that they had left the show after five seasons. Yim joined the writing staff in 2020 and became the show's first openly trans, non-binary writer. They also became a writing supervisor in the second half of season 48. ^[11] The next day, Rosebud Baker, a writer since 2022 who was appointed as a Weekend Update writer the previous season, announced she also had left the show after nearly three seasons. ^[12] On September 2, 2025, it was announced that Please Don't Destroy member John Higgins, who had been a writer on SNL since 2021, would be leaving after four seasons. ^[13] On September 4, 2025, long-term writer Steven Castillo announced his departure. Castillo previously wrote for the show from 2017 to 2021, before returning midway through season 49 in 2024, and overall wrote for seven non-consecutive seasons. He stated that his second run at SNL was never meant to be long-term and that he just wanted to be a part of the 50th season. ^[14]

On September 30, 2025, prior to the start of the season, seven new writers: Jack Bensinger, Tucker Flodman, Maxwell Gay, Claire McFadden, Rachel Pegram, Jo Sunday, and Maddie Wiener, were all hired. At the same time, Auguste White, a writer who joined in 2022, had left the show after three seasons. ^[15]

Additionally, long time senior writer Bryan Tucker is on a temporary leave from the show, longtime writer/producer Erik Kenward (who has been with the show since 2001) has been promoted to head writer (alongside Kent Sublette, Alison Gates, and Streeter Seidell), and longtime producer Erin Doyle (who has been with the show since 2009) has been promoted to top-level producer alongside Kenward and Steve Higgins. ^[16]

Episodes

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Host	Musical guest	Original release date  [17]	U.S. viewers (millions)
989	1	Bad Bunny	Doja Cat	October 4, 2025 (2025-10-04)	4.41 [18]
Doja Cat performs "AAAHH MEN!" and "Gorgeous". Jon Hamm appears in the opening monologue and the El Chavo del Ocho (English version) sketch. Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami appear in the KPop Demon Hunters sketch, reprising their roles as Huntr/x. Benicio del Toro appears in the "Inventing Spanish" sketch. Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska’s first episode as cast members. Jane Wickline is credited in the opening montage but did not appear in this episode, although she appears on stage during the goodnights.
990	2	Amy Poehler	Role Model	October 11, 2025 (2025-10-11)	4.07 [19]
Role Model performs "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out" and "Some Protector". Tina Fey appears as Kristi Noem in the cold open and appears on Weekend Update . Aubrey Plaza appears in the pre-recorded " The Hunting Wives season two trailer" sketch. Charli XCX appears during Role Model's first performance as the "Sally". Seth Meyers appears on Weekend Update. When introducing the musical guest, Poehler wears t-shirts with the original SNL logo and a photo of the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Also, the final bumper card recreates a shot from the season one opening titles, including the original title NBC's Saturday Night, with this episode airing 50 years to the day of the series premiere in 1975. [20] Before the goodnights, a photo of Diane Keaton, who died earlier in the day, is shown in silence.
991	3	Sabrina Carpenter	Sabrina Carpenter	October 18, 2025 (2025-10-18)	TBD
Sabrina Carpenter performs "Manchild" and "Nobody's Son". Kenan Thompson introduces Carpenter's first performance, with Chloe Fineman introducing the second. During "Nobody's Son", Carpenter swore twice, which aired uncensored on the East Coast live broadcast. It was censored in the form of audio dropouts for the West Coast broadcast, post-broadcast distribution online, [21] as well as in airings internationally. Writers Martin Herlihy and Jo Sunday appear in the pre-recorded "Social Experiment" sketch. Bowen Yang was absent from live sketches this episode due to accepting the Academy Museum's Vantage Award in Los Angeles; Yang helped write the episode, was credited in the opening montage, and appears in the pre-recorded "Grind Song" sketch and in a photograph during the opening monologue. [22] Due to the USC v. Notre Dame football game running long, this episode's start was delayed by 13 minutes. [23]
992	4	Miles Teller	Brandi Carlile	November 1, 2025 (2025-11-01)	TBD
993	5	Nikki Glaser [24]	sombr [24]	November 8, 2025 (2025-11-08)	TBD
994	6	Glen Powell [24]	Olivia Dean [24]	November 15, 2025 (2025-11-15)	TBD

References

1. White, Peter (July 28, 2025). "'SNL' Sets Return For Season 51 Premiere". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved September 4, 2025.
2. Riccardo, Nick (May 30, 2025). "SNL to Hit Another Milestone in 2026: Its 1,000th Episode". LateNighter. Retrieved August 18, 2025.
3. Belloni, Matthew (August 22, 2025). "Lorne Michaels Speaks! Colbert, Trump, 'SNL50' Secrets, and the New Season". Puck . Retrieved September 4, 2025.
4. Nemetz, Dave (August 25, 2025). "SNL Cast Member Devon Walker Announces Exit After 3 Seasons: 'Sometimes It Was Toxic As Hell'". TVLine . Retrieved August 25, 2025.
5. Swift, Andy (August 27, 2025). "Emil Wakim Not Returning to SNL for Season 51: 'It Was a Gut Punch of a Call to Get'". TVLine . Retrieved August 27, 2025.
6. Nemetz, Dave (August 28, 2025). "SNL Cuts Another Cast Member: Michael Longfellow Out After 3 Seasons". TVLine . Retrieved August 28, 2025.
7. Shanfeld, Ethan (August 28, 2025). "Heidi Gardner Exits 'SNL' After Eight Seasons". Variety . Retrieved August 28, 2025.
8. Hailu, Selome (September 12, 2025). "Ego Nwodim Exits 'SNL' After Seven Seasons: 'The Hardest Part of a Great Party Is Knowing When to Say Goodnight'". Variety . Retrieved September 12, 2025.
9. Huamani, Kaitlyn (September 2, 2025). "'Saturday Night Live' announces new cast members for Season 51 after a series of departures". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved September 4, 2025.
10. Nolfi, Joey (August 22, 2025). "Lorne Michaels confirms "SNL "cast members will leave before season 51, reveals 1 actor's return". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved August 23, 2025.
11. Boykin-Patterson, Eboni (August 25, 2025). "SNL's First Ever Out Trans Writer Is Leaving the Show". The Daily Beast . Retrieved September 4, 2025.
12. Rosenzweig, Jed (August 25, 2025). "Writer Rosebud Baker Is Leaving Saturday Night Live". LateNighter. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
13. Shanfeld, Ethan; Hailu, Selome (September 2, 2025). "'SNL' Splits Up Please Don't Destroy: John Higgins Exits and Martin Herlihy Remains on Writing Staff as Ben Marshall Joins Cast". Variety . Retrieved September 4, 2025.
14. Rosenzweig, Jed (September 4, 2025). "Writer Steven Castillo Departs SNL Ahead of Season 51". LateNighter. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
15. "'SNL' Hires 7 New Writers for Season 51 (EXCLUSIVE)". September 30, 2025. Retrieved September 30, 2025.
16. https://deadline.com/2025/10/saturday-night-live-season-51-erin-doyle-erik-kenward-bryan-tucker-1236570641/
17. "Shows A-Z, saturday night live on nbc". August 18, 2025. Retrieved August 18, 2025.
18. https://latenighter.com/news/ratings/ratings-slip-for-snl-season-51-debut-but-demo-tops-since-january/
19. https://latenighter.com/news/ratings/ratings-dip-for-amy-poehlers-return-to-snl/
20. Jillian Sederholm (October 12, 2025). "Amy Poehler's subtle SNL salutes you probably missed in 50th anniversary episode". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved October 12, 2025.
21. Glenn Garner (October 19, 2025). "Saturday Night Live Lets Sabrina Carpenter's F-Bombs Air During 'Nobody's Son' Performance". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved October 19, 2025.
22. Jack Dunn (October 18, 2025). "Bowen Yang Reveals Absence From Saturday Night Live: 'Missing the Show Tonight'". Variety . Retrieved October 18, 2025.
23. https://x.com/nbcsnl/status/1979750299452727704
24. Peter White (October 17, 2025). "Nikki Glaser & Glen Powell To Make SNL Hosting Debuts In November, Miles Teller Returns For Second Stint". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved October 17, 2025.