casting couch

Here Are the Saturday Night Live Cast Members Returning for Season 42

Photo: Vera Anderson/Getty Images

After Saturday Night Live made headlines earlier this month — when heavy-hitting veteran cast members Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah, along with relative newbie Jon Rudnitsky, were cut, rather unexpectedly, from the long-running late-night institution — questions remained about who would be back for the show’s 42nd season. Those worries, however, were for naught: According to Splitsider, everybody else from last season is returning this fall. Yep, Colin Jost and Michael Che are back behind the Weekend Update desk, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon will put away their proton packs, and Keenan Thompson has the same job he’s had since 2003. Here’s the complete list of familiar faces:

Vanessa Bayer
Beck Bennett
Aidy Bryant
Michael Che
Pete Davidson
Leslie Jones
Colin Jost
Kate McKinnon
Kyle Mooney
Bobby Moynihan
Cecily Strong
Kenan Thompson
Sasheer Zamata

While the show hasn’t yet announced any new cast hires, we do know that Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider are taking over as head writers for the next season. The co-writers are probably best known for their sketch “The Beygency.”

Here’s the SNL Cast Returning for Season 42