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Ethan Shanfeld
@ethanshanfeld See All
Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty Image Live from New York, it’s Season 52!
The summer of “Saturday Night Live” casting announcements has come to a close, with the ensemble for this year’s season finally solidified (less than two weeks before the Sept. 26 premiere).
This year’s cast has remained largely intact compared to last year’s shakeup. Bowen Yang left midway through Season 51, and Chloe Fineman announced her departure in July. Martin Herlihy, a member of sketch trio Please Don’t Destroy who was then moved to the writing staff for one season, is also not returning.
But the rest of the Season 51 cast is on board for at least another year, with all five freshmen — Ben Marshall, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, Tommy Brennan and Veronika Slowikowska — coming back. Veterans like Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Michael Che and Mikey Day are also returning, as well as a handful of other fan favorites like Sarah Sherman, Ashley Padilla, James Austin Johnson, Marcello Hernández, Andrew Dismukes and Jane Wickline.
New to the cast are Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie, who auditioned this summer alongside tons of other hopefuls in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Reiter is a Wisconsin-born comedian who stars in Tim Robinson’s “The Chair Company” and the upcoming series “Minimum Wage.” Belo-Osagie is a filmmaker and comedian from New York who created the solo show “Saidah Gets Closure.”
Below, read about all the cast members who have left, joined and stayed on “SNL” ahead of Season 52, which premieres on Sept. 26 with host Jalen Brunson.
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New Cast Member: Grace Reiter
Image Credit: Photo by Jill Petracek Grace Reiter joins “Saturday Night Live” for her first season. The Wisconsin-born stand-up comedian and actor amassed a large following on TikTok and YouTube before she went on to star in Tim Robinson’s HBO comedy series “The Chair Company.” She’s also a member of American High’s sketch team and stars in the upcoming series “Minimum Wage.” Earlier this year, she was listed as one of Variety‘s 10 Creators to Watch.
