Splitsider has learned that Saturday Night Live cast member Nasim Pedrad will be joining the cast of John Mulaney’s upcoming Fox sitcom, Mulaney, which the network greenlit this morning. Pedrad starred in the original pilot for the show, which NBC produced and passed on last season, as one of Mulaney’s roommates. At the end of last season, she was poised to leave SNL, where she’s been a cast member since 2009, if NBC ordered the pilot to series. After this morning’s news that Fox has ordered Mulaney to series, we know Pedrad will still be on the show, but we’re awaiting confirmation about whether she’s leaving SNL. It’d be impossible schedule-wise to star on a network sitcom while being in the SNL cast, so this is probably a safe bet. Mulaney is produced by Lorne Michaels and NBC’s parent company’s TV studio, Universal TV, making an early exit from her SNL contract a possibility.
Currently in her fifth season on the show, Pedrad is SNL’s current longest-serving female cast member. If she does exit SNL, she’ll be part of a big wave of cast member exits. Longtime SNLers Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Jason Sudeikis left in May, while featured player Tim Robinson transitioned to the writing staff for the new season and Seth Meyers is expected to depart to take over NBC’s Late Night before his version of the show starts up in February.
