Change is in the air!
NBC announced Sept. 15 that Saturday Night Live's 48th season will see the addition of four new cast members, Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker.
And while the quartet is new to Studio 8H, they're hardly new to the comedy scene. Marcello, a comedian, actor and writer from Miami, was selected as the Just for Laughs New Face of Comedy in 2022.
Likewise, Molly has a solid background in comedy, having starred in Prime Video's A League of Their Own and Disney+'s Mighty Ducks. They were also selected for Comedy Central's "Up Next" showcase in 2019.
Longfellow comes highly recommended, according to NBC, having previously participated in Netflix's Introducing ... showcase and NBC's Bring the Funny. He was also selected as one of TBS' "Comics to Watch" for the 2017 New York Comedy Festival.
Last but not least is Walker, who has written on Freeform's Everything's Trash and the Netflix animated comedy Big Mouth.
The four newcomers have some pretty big shoes to fill—seven pairs to be exact. SNL's season 47 finale saw the departures of Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney and Aidy Bryant. And on Sept. 1, SNL announced that Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat and Aristotle Athari would not be returning either.
Executive producer and series creator Lorne Michaels told reporters at the 2022 Emmys that this casting shake-up means the new season will see the show go through a "transition," adding, "The changes are always difficult. But also really exciting."
Fans of the long-running sketch comedy can see how things pan out when SNL premieres Oct. 1 on NBC.
(E! News and NBC are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)