‘Announced in a Week or So’

The season 51 cast of Saturday Night Live might look a little different than last year, according to showrunner Lorne Michaels.

Michaels, 80, told Puck in a profile published on Sunday, August 24, that he hoped to shake up the casting lineup.

“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],’” Michaels said. “I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season].”

He continued, “So when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it. That meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions, or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season]. And we had an election.”

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SNL wrapped its landmark 50th season in the spring shortly after the election cycle. The cast included Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Michael Che, James Austin Johnson, Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernández, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow, as well as a handful of new players.

While speaking with Puck, Michaels admitted that there was pressure to reinvent the show this upcoming season.

“Yeah, for sure. It’ll be announced in a week or so,” Michaels teased, only confirming that Johnson’s gig was safe. (Johnson, 36, impersonated President Donald Trump throughout season 50.)

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While Michaels did not mention any other SNL cast member by name, he did hint at his intentions to delegate certain responsibilities.

“[It’s] already been happening [in] the past year or so. More people are involved in the choices and in the decisions,” Michaels said. “There’s a lot of people in that room with a lot of opinions. I make the final decision, obviously. But it’s not as if people don’t let me know how strongly they feel.”

Michaels had put together the large-scale and star-studded SNL50 festivities amid the weekly episodes last year.

“I didn’t get to see anybody [during the show], and not at the party either. I was down front, because I needed access to the stage,” he recalled. “My family was there, and I was really excited that they were there. I’d make eye contact with people all the time, and then occasionally I’d get up and go to the control room. I didn’t get to spend time with anyone.”