Bowen Yang, Michael Che, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim to Make ‘SNL’ Return

Bowen Yang, Michael Che, Colin Jost and Ego Nwodim are among the names headed back to 30 Rock next month.

Saturday Night Live has set its returning cast for its forthcoming 51st season, amid casting shakeups that include a few new faces and some departing favorites.

Yang, Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Chloe Fineman, Mikey Day, Marcello Hernández, James Austin Johnson and Andrew Dismukes, Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline will be returning to SNL. Kenan Thompson is set to return as well, extending his record-breaking run on the series.

SNL has not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The Wrap was the first to report the news.

Jost and Che, who have been handling “Weekend Update” duties together since 2014, will again anchor the segment beginning in October.

Scarlett Johansson also confirmed over the weekend that her husband and “Weekend Update” co-anchor, 43, will be returning amid recent casting shakeups. “He’s going back to work,” Johansson, 40, told Entertainment Weekly at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival while promoting her new film, Eleanor the Great.

As for whether Johansson will have any involvement in Jost and Che’s fan-favorite “joke swap” routine the next time it takes place, she told EW that she doesn’t know quite yet. “I think that’s basically the MO over at 30 Rock is that everything is like moments before,” she said. “It’s usually like Friday night before the Saturday show.”

Che and Jost are the longest-tenured “Weekend Update” co-anchors in SNL‘s 50-year history, with over a decade now under their belts, while Thompson is extending the record for longest-tenured cast member.

The news comes shortly before SNL‘s 51st season, as several cast members have exited the show in recent weeks and five new faces were announced to be joining NBC’s long-running sketch-comedy series.

Thompson, 47, previously alluded to “a lot of change” in the show’s future, following the conclusion of its milestone 50th season. Similarly teasing changes, show creator Lorne Michaels told Puck News in August that casting news would be “announced in a week or so.”

“I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season],” he explained. “So, when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it. And that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season].”

“And we had an election,” he noted.

Devon Walker was the first to break the news of his departure on Aug. 25, with the exits of Emil Wakim, Michael Longfellow, Heidi Gardner and Please Don’t Destroy‘s John Higgins announced in the days to follow. Writers Celeste Yim and Rosebud Baker will also be leaving.

Ahead of season 51’s October premiere, SNL also announced the arrival of new talent to show’s roster: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska.

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Saturday Night Live season 51 premieres on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.