'SNL' loses 3 more cast members following producer Lindsay Shookus' exit
Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and Aristotle Athari are saying goodbye to 'Saturday Night Live' ahead of season 48
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Saturday Night Live" has lost three more cast members.
Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and Aristotle Athari are joining the growing list of people who have exited the show ahead of season 48.
Moffat and Villaseñor were added to the "SNL" cast in 2016. Athari joined the comedy sketch show as a featured player in 2021, only lasting one season.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As of now, the returning cast should include Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Sarah Sherman, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang.
From left, Aristotle Athari, Melissa Villaseñor and Alex Moffat are exiting "Saturday Night Live" ahead of season 48.
‘SNL’ PRODUCER LINDSAY SHOOKUS LEAVES SHOW AFTER 20 YEARS: ‘FOREVER GRATEFUL’
The news of three more cast members leaving the show comes after senior producer Lindsay Shookus announced her exit after 20 seasons.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"After 20 seasons at Saturday Night Live (and 415 live shows - I counted!), I have decided to trade in the wild late night life and move on from the show," she wrote in a lengthy caption of a photo of herself on set.
Shookus continued: "When I started in 2002, I was a baby from Buffalo, NY who didn’t know anything about the business, except that I so badly wanted to be somehow part of it. I found my place at SNL, and I’ve spent the past two decades developing the most incredible friendships and memories alongside some truly brilliant and talented people."
"Saturday Night Live" senior producer Lindsay Shookus also recently announced her departure from the show. (David Livingston/Getty Images)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The New York native added that she had met her ex-husband and former "SNL" producer Kevin Miller, with whom she shares a daughter, Maddie, through her work on the show.
"What could be a greater gift from my time at the show than my sweet, funny girl who makes every day brighter," Shookus wrote.
Cast members Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney said farewell to the show in the finale of season 47.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pete Davidson and other cast members said goodbye to the show in the season 47 finale. (Jeff Daly/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
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"SNL" alum Rob Schneider recently opened up about when he thought the show was "over." (Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic)
Rob Schneider recently voiced his opinion on the moment that he knew "Saturday Night Live" was "over."
The 58-year-old "SNL" alum told podcast host Glenn Beck that he believed the famous post-2016 U.S. presidential election cold open in which McKinnon performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" as Hillary Clinton was the NBC comedy sketch series' undoing.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I hate to crap on my own show," the "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" star said during an appearance on "The Glenn Beck Podcast."
He continued, "When Hillary Clinton lost — which is understandable. She’s not exactly the most likable person in the room. And then when Kate McKinnon went out there on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in the cold opening and all that, and she started dressed as Hillary Clinton, and she started playing ‘Hallelujah.’ I literally prayed, ‘Please have a joke at the end.'
"'Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there.’ And there was no joke at the end, and I went, ‘It’s over. It’s over. It’s not gonna come back.’"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital's Ashley Hume contributed to this report.