At the end of Saturday Night Live’s 47th season, long-timers Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson announced they would not be returning for the show’s 48th season, with Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney also bowing out. Now, with the new season debuting on NBC relatively soon, reports have surfaced point to SNL now losing three additional stars.
In a report from Deadline, Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat and Aristotle Athari will be departing the show ahead of Season 48, leaving another fairly sizable void in their wake. Here is a bit about each actor and what they did during their time on the legacy late-night sketch show.
Melissa Villaseñor
Joining the ensemble as a featured player in 2016 and becoming a repertory player in 2018, Villaseñor was the second Latina to be cast on the show, and was the first to be promoted to the main cast. She is known for her impressions and appearances on Weekend Update as herself, my personal favorite is when she sang songs about the Academy Award best picture nominees. She also had a hit sketch toward the end of Season 47 with Selena Gomez called “A Peek at Pico.”
Outside of SNL, she has voiced characters in the currently streamable Disney movies Toy Story 4 and Ralph Breaks the Internet, as well as the animated comedies Family Guy and American Dad. To top it off with some fun facts: She was previously a semifinalist on America’s Got Talent, and was named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30.
Alex Moffat
Alex Moffat was certainly no stranger to sketch appearances, but the comedian is probably best known for his bits on Weekend Update. For example, the regular presence of Guy Who Just Bought A Boat, which saw him chatting with Colin Jost and Michael Che about Thanksgiving and Halloween dating tips, among other things, while giving advice to Jost and Pete Davidson when they actually bought a ferry. He was also one-half of the show’s Trump siblings, with Moffat childishly portraying Eric Trump alongside Mikey Day’s Donald Trump Jr. throughout Donald Trump’s presdiency and beyond.
Moffat is currently filming the series Bad Monkey, and appeared in the Netflix movie Holidate, while also lending his voice to Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Aristotle Athari
It’s after only one season that Aristotle Athari will be leaving SNL. He joined the cast in 2021 with James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman, who will both be returning for Season 48. He is best known for his character Angelo, the funky soft-spoken nightclub singer who would appear in his black turtle neck, red scarf and platinum hair to quietly sing his music that no one ever seemed to understand. Hosts including Rami Malek and Billie Eilish showed up to sing with him during sketches. He also played the Stand-Up Robot on Weekend Update from time to time. Before SNL, Athari appeared in 15 episodes of Silicon Valley and created many video shorts that he also directed.
Lots of in SNL’s current cast members have been there for a long time. Moffat and Villaseñor were there for 8 years, which SNL alum David Spade has said is wild amount of time to be on the show. Other long-time cast members, like Kenan Thompson, who broke a record by being in 1,500 sketches, will be coming back for Season 48. Fan favorite and Emmy-nominated, Bowen Yang will also be returning to Studio 8H. As of now, no other casting announcements have been released.
For more information on SNL’s imminent return, check out the Fall TV premiere schedule.
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