Though many fan-favorite cast members are expected to stay on for Saturday Night Live Season 51, some beloved players, writers, and staff members are saying goodbye to the long-running comedy show&mdash;much to the chagrin of the Internet.&nbsp;

Earlier this year, several bombshells broke&mdash;three beloved members of the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/all-the-celebrities-at-saturday-night-live-50th-anniversary-special-red-carpet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saturday Night Live</a>&nbsp;staff have announced their departure from the comedy institution. Though a shake-up was expected&mdash;SNL&nbsp;creator Lorne Michaels hinted at some changes to the show ahead of Season 51 just a few weeks back&mdash;the news still hit fans hard.&nbsp;
First came an announcement from Celeste Yim, who made history as the show's first openly nonbinary writer and has been with SNL since 2020. They broke the news on Aug. 25 with a sentimental <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DNwymqQWPen/?img_index=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram post</a> that thanked the team of cast members, production staff, and fellow writers behind the show.&nbsp;
"After five seasons, I&rsquo;m leaving my job at Saturday Night Live. Lorne hired me over the phone when I was 23 and the job literally made all of my dreams come true BUT it was also grueling and I slept in my office every week BUT my friends helped me with everything BUT I got yelled at by random famous men BUT some famous girls too BUT I loved it and I laughed every day and it&rsquo;s where I grew up," wrote Yim.&nbsp;
"As a kid, I was addicted to SNL and to SNL writers... I try to imagine my younger self learning about me. I would be amazed. But then I&rsquo;d be like&hellip; Wait, why are you dressed like that&hellip;" they continued. Yim also gave a special shoutout to Bowen Yang, with whom they often collaborated.&nbsp;

Just a short while later, cast member Devon Walker went public with his own departure news&mdash;also via <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DNy1KhpUog4/?img_index=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram post</a>, which he wryly captioned "me and my baby broke up." In the post, he shared a few behind-the-scenes highlights from his time on&nbsp;Saturday Night Live, as well as a statement titled "wait..did he quit or did he get fired." In the note, he wrote: &ldquo;Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell. But we did what we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction.&rdquo;

Two days after, Emil Wakim became the third high-profile departure from SNL&nbsp;ahead of the latest season, and shared on Instagram that he was let go with a "gut punch of a phone call," but maintained that he was grateful to Michaels and the rest of the show's staff for the opportunity. Wakim joined SNL&nbsp;as a featured player just a year ago.
"i was so lucky to bring some of myself in there and say things i believed in and i&rsquo;m excited for whatever chapter comes next. here&rsquo;s to making more art without compromise," Wakim concluded in his post.

On Aug. 28,&nbsp;<a href="https://deadline.com/2025/08/snl-michael-longfellow-leaving-1236500129/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Deadline</a>&nbsp;reported that Michael Longfellow would not be rejoining the&nbsp;Saturday Night Live&nbsp;cast for Season 51. Longfellow, 31, was a cast member and had been on the show for three seasons.&nbsp;
Fans of the series also felt the departure of Heidi Gardner hard after it was announced on Aug. 8 that she would be leaving after 8 seasons on the show. Given Gardner's recent involvement in projects like&nbsp;Shrinking&nbsp;and Adam Sandler's&nbsp;Hustle,&nbsp;it's been widely speculated online that the comedy actress will continue to take on roles in Hollywood, or alternatively, pursue solo comedy work.&nbsp;
Rosebud Baker, a writer on the comedy series, is also leaving ahead of Season 51.
On Sept. 12, beloved cast member Ego Nwodim announced that she chose to leave the show after seven seasons
"The hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight,&rdquo; Nwodim said in <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DOgawKMDWf2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a statement posted to her Instagram account</a>. &ldquo;But after seven unforgettable seasons, I have decided to leave&nbsp;SNL. I am immensely grateful to Lorne for the opportunity, to my castmates, the writers, and the crew for their brilliance, support, and friendship. Week after week on that stage taught me more than I could have ever imagined, and I will carry those memories, and that laughter, with me always.&rdquo;
Saturday Night Live Season 51 is expected to start airing this fall on Oct. 4.&nbsp;

'SNL' is Officially Entering a New Chapter—See The Stars Leaving Ahead of Next Season

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