In yet another shake up at Saturday Night Live, Melissa Villasenor, Alex Moffat and Aristotle Athari will not be returning for the upcoming 48th season. This follows the departures of Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney at the end of last season.
Villasenor, who is arguably one of the best impressionists the long-running series has ever had, has perfectly channeled Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Dolly Parton, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Björk, Kristen Wiig, Ana Navarro, and Natalie Portman. Moffat made his mark on the show playing smarmy characters like “Guy Who Just Bought a Boat,” as well as portraying people such as Joe Biden, Billy Bush, Tucker Carlson, Anderson Cooper and Eric Trump. Athari, who was still pretty new to the show, portrayed the robot comedian Laughintosh 3000, as well as the recurring singer, Angelo.
The remaining cast, including featured players, includes Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chole Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Sarah Sherman, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang, which is still a pretty sizable cast.
The new departures follow that of senior producer Lindsay Shookus. Lorne Michaels is expected to remain with the show though its 50th season, at which point he will likely retire.
Source: Variety