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Heidi Gardner is the latest Saturday Night Live <\/em>cast member who will exit the show ahead of Season 51. On Aug. 28, Variety <\/em><\/a><\/em>reported<\/a> that Gardner is out for the new season set to premiere on Oct. 4.<\/p>\n Gardner, 42, joined SNL<\/em> as a featured player in 2017 and was promoted to a main cast member in 2019. Some of Gardner\u2019s most memorable recurring SNL<\/em> characters included Angel (Every Boxer’s Girlfriend from Every Movie About Boxing Ever), Your Co-Worker Who\u2019s Extremely Busy Doing Seemingly Nothing<\/a>, and \u201cWeekend Update\u201d teen movie critic Bailey Gismert. Gardner was SNL\u2019<\/em>s longest-running female cast member.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, she told Craig Ferguson\u2019s Joy<\/em> podcast<\/a> that things had gotten a \u201clittle tough\u201d for her creatively. \u201cI will say the only thing that I\u2019ve started to feel a little bit is just sketch fatigue, or idea fatigue,\u201d she admitted. \u201cAt this point, after doing Groundlings and SNL<\/em> for so long, I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019ve written a lot of sketches.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Fans reacted to Gardner\u2019s SNL<\/em> exit on social media, with many saying they would miss what she brought to the show.<\/p>\n \u201cShe will be missed – she\u2019s a firecracker and I love her characters. She will go on to great things,\u201d one fan wrote on Reddit<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It wouldn’t surprise me if she left on her own, or she was cool with being let go so she could focus on future endeavors,\u201d another speculated.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cast has been bloated for a while, but this is the first departure that I’m genuinely shocked by,\u201d another fan wrote of Gardner<\/a>.<\/p>\n It has been a brutal week for SNL <\/em>cuts. Ahead of Gardner\u2019s exit, Devon Walker announced in an Instagram post<\/a> that he was leaving the show after a three-season run that was sometimes \u201ctoxic.\u201d Additionally, Michael Longfellow is also departing after three seasons, and Emil Wakim will be one season and done, having joined the cast last fall.<\/p>\n The rest of the SNL<\/em> Season 50 cast included Colin Jost, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hern\u00e1ndez, James Austin Johnson, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang, along with featured players Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline.<\/p>\n Only Johnson has been confirmed to be definitely returning for Season 51, showrunner Lorne Michaels revealed to Puck<\/em><\/a> in an interview earlier this week.<\/p>\n This story was originally reported by Men’s Journal<\/a> on Aug 28, 2025, where it first appeared in the Entertainment<\/a> section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n3 Other ‘SNL’ Cast Members Are Also Leaving<\/h2>\n