Lorne Michaels Teases SNL Cast Exodus Ahead of Season 51 — Who Should Stay? And Who Should Go?

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Live from New York, it’s… anyone’s guess heading into Season 51 of Saturday Night Live.

Six weeks out from the NBC sketch series’ Oct. 4 premiere, sketch series mastermind Lorne Michaels gave his first interview of the season to Puck News‘ Matt Belloni, who asked: “You said last year that you wanted to hold that core cast together through the 50th. Are you now going to shake things up?”

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“Yes,” Michaels answered. “Last season, when we were at the party of the first show, quarter of four in the morning, Dana [Carvey, who played Joe Biden] comes over to me and says, ‘I don’t think anyone knows you called me June 4th [to play Biden].’ I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season]. So when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it. And that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions [to the cast], or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season]. And we had an election.”

“But now, do you feel pressure to reinvent this season?” Belloni asked.

“Yeah, for sure,” Michaels told him. “It’ll be announced in a week or so.”

Saturday Night Live Season 51 Cast — Who Is Leaving SNL?

Top row, L to R: Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, Devon Walker, Chloe Fineman, Jane Wickline, Ashley Padilla & Andrew Dismukes; Bottom row, L to R: Michael Che, Colin Jost, Marcello Hernández, Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang & James Austin Johnson Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC

So, who’s safe… and who’s not? Michaels would only confirm that James Austin Johnson, heading into his third season as a repertory player (and fifth season overall), will continue to impersonate President Donald Trump this fall. That leaves the fate of 16 cast members up in the air…

Or 19, if you count Please Don’t Destroy…

Or 18, if you assume Kenan Thompson has tenure.

Of note, per LateNighter: During Season 50, Sarah Sherman, Bowen Yang and Andrew Dismukes clocked the most screen time (excluding Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost), while featured players Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline, and Devon Walker — now in his third season — clocked the least amount of screen time (excluding PDD’s Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy).

What follows is a list of every Season 50 cast member, arranged from least to most seasons on the show. Review the current crop of Not Ready for the Primetime Players below, then leave a comment and let us know who you would like to see back for SNL Season 51… and who you think it’s time to let go.