Saturday Night Live season 50

Prior to the start of the season, Punkie Johnson, who had been on the show for four seasons since 2020, and featured player Molly Kearney, who had been on the show for two seasons since 2022, made the decision to leave after the conclusion of the previous season.^[6] Following Johnson and Kearney's departures, fellow featured player Chloe Troast was let go after only one season on the show.^[7] The show subsequently added three new cast members: Ashley Padilla of The Groundlings, stand-up comic Emil Wakim, and TikTok sketch comedian Jane Wickline.^[8]

Marcello Hernández, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, all of whom joined the cast in 2022, were promoted to repertory status.^[8]

In addition, SNL alums Dana Carvey, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg and actor/stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan, play Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff and Tim Walz, respectively, in the lead-up to the November 5, 2024 presidential election.^[9] Carvey and Samberg continued to make brief guest appearances, with Carvey continuing to portray the role of Biden.^{[citation needed]} Another SNL alum Mike Myers also returned to portray Elon Musk for three episodes after Carvey portrayed Musk on the episode following the presidential election.^[10][11]

This was the final season for Heidi Gardner (who had been fired after being a cast member since 2017),^[12] Ego Nwodim (who voluntarily left after having been a cast member since 2018), Longfellow and Walker (who of whom were also let go both joined the show in 2022), and the only season for Wakim (who was also let go).^[13][14][15]

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Prior to the start of the season, Allie Levitan, Moss Perricone and Carl Tart joined the writing staff.^[16]

Writers Dan Bulla (who joined the writing staff in 2019) and Auguste White (who joined the writing staff in 2022) have been promoted to writing supervisors, joining current supervisors Celeste Yim and Will Stephen.^[17] Rosebud Baker (who joined the writing staff in 2022) is now named as a writer for Weekend Update.^[18]

Sudi Green (who was previously a writer on the show from 2015 to 2021) returned as a writer during the first-half of the season.^[18][19]

This was the final season for Yim, (who had been a writer since 2020), White, Baker and Please Don't Destroy's John Higgins, (who had been a writer since 2021),.^[20] Long-term writer Steven Castillo, who previously wrote for the show from 2017 to 2021, before returning midway through season 49 in 2024, and overall wrote for seven non-consecutive seasons, would leave the show for the second time. He stated that his second run at SNL was never meant to be long-term and that he just wanted to be a part of the 50th season.^[21]

In late 2021, show creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels stated that he was committed to continuing with the series through the fiftieth season (at the time, the show was in its forty-seventh) and suggested that he may retire afterward.^[22] The subsequent year, Kenan Thompson speculated that the series may end if Michaels left, saying, "He's the one that's had his touch on the whole thing . . . It opens the opportunity for a lot of bullshit to come into the game because he's such a legend that he keeps off those corporate wolves."^[23] During season forty-nine, Michaels stated that 2000s-era member Tina Fey could be a capable successor, but insisted that he would finish the next season before any dramatic changes.^[24] He reiterated these plans in May, when a fiftieth anniversary special was announced that would celebrate the series' history on February 16, 2025.^[25] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter before the season started, Michaels denied that he would be retiring at the end of the season.^[26] Prior to the season start on September 28, NBC began airing retrospectives on the show with their mid-year coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics.^[2] Michaels had previously stated that he intended to bring back everyone from the previous decades, as well as hosts and musical guests who have helped shape the show, for the anniversary special.^[27]

On July 31, it was announced that Maya Rudolph would return to portray vice president and presidential nominee Kamala Harris through the 2024 election season.^[28] The next day, cast member Punkie Johnson announced that she would be leaving the show after four years.^[29] On August 2, cast member Molly Kearney announced their departure after two seasons as a featured player.^[30] On September 9, it was announced that Chloe Troast would also be departing after one season as a featured player.^[8] On the same day, it was announced that three new cast members would be hired as featured players: Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline. Featured players Marcello Hernández, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, who joined the cast along with Kearney prior to season 48, were promoted to repertory status.^[8]

Coinciding with the fiftieth season, the biographical film Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, was released in theaters by Columbia Pictures on October 11, 2024, after a limited theatrical release on September 27, depicting the story of the show's tumultuous premiere on NBC.^[31]

This was the final season for longtime carpenter Stephen "Demo" DeMaria, who retired at the end of the season, after 50 years, since the show's inception in 1975.^[32]

Through the seventh episode, this season of Saturday Night Live was the "highest rated entertainment program across ad-supported broadcast and cable TV among viewers aged 18-49", and—-with seven days of on-demand viewing included—-the season so far averaged a 1.28 demo rating, and an average viewership of 7.3 million.^[84]