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SNL Season 52: The Two New Cast Members, Two Promotions and Who Left

Meet the two new SNL featured players for Season 52, the cast promotions and departures, and the full 17-member lineup for the 2026 season.

By Written Facts StaffOctober 9, 20266 min read

It's a Saturday night in fall, and you're watching Saturday Night Live when the opening credits roll. Some names are new and some familiar ones are missing. For Season 52, NBC added two new featured players: Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter. Two featured players moved up to the main cast, and a few longtime members left. Below is a guide to who the new players are, who was promoted, who left and who is in the full 17-person cast.

The two new faces

NBC announced the new cast members on Sept. 16, 2026, 10 days before the season premiere. Saidah Belo-Osagie and Grace Reiter join as featured players. That is SNL's entry-level cast tier, where most performers start before they're promoted to the main cast.

The two come from very different places. Belo-Osagie is from Queens, New York, so she grew up near the show's home at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The AV Club describes her as a Nigerian-American comedian whose work leans toward character comedy. Her résumé includes film, live events and a solo stage show.

Reiter is from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, a small city in the western part of the state. She built much of her audience online. According to the AV Club, she has more than a million followers across platforms. She has also acted in scripted television.

Between them, the two cover two common paths to SNL. One worked her way up through New York's live comedy scene. The other built a large following with comedy she wrote, directed and posted herself. Both have written and directed their own work. That matters at SNL, where cast members often help write the sketches they perform in.

The two also add one more woman to a cast that has leaned male. The AV Club counts the split as 6 women and 11 men this season, up from 5 women and 12 men last season.

Who is Saidah Belo-Osagie?

Belo-Osagie is from Queens, and much of her work so far has been her own projects.

Tinge: a short film she wrote and directed. TheWrap dates it to 2020.
Afrobeats Futura: an event series she created. The name points to Afrobeats, the West African pop sound that has spread worldwide over the past decade.
Saidah Gets Closure: a solo show she created, built around her own material.

All three are things she made herself, not roles someone cast her in. That fits the AV Club's description of her as a character comic. At SNL, character comedians often become recurring players, building a set of characters that come back week after week. Saidah Gets Closure is a one-person show, so she has carried a whole stage alone. A live sketch show demands that skill every week.

Her film and event work also shows experience behind the camera. For a featured player, that can count as much as performing. New cast members often have to pitch, write and produce their own sketches to get airtime.

Who is Grace Reiter?

Grace Reiter took a different route, from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, to Studio 8H.

The Chair Company: she appeared in the series. The AV Club says she played a character named Tara.
Minimum Wage: she appeared in it and also wrote and directed it.
"The Hunger Games (but Better)": a parody short she created. The AV Club reports it has about 13 million views.

That parody is probably her best-known work. Thirteen million views is a big audience for a comedy short, larger than the TV audience for many SNL episodes. The AV Club also counts more than a million followers for her across platforms. She joins the show with a fan base of her own.

SNL has hired from online comedy before. The "Please Don't Destroy" trio came to the show with a following from their internet videos. Reiter's mix of writing, directing and acting fits that pattern.

Promotions and departures

Two new players in the credits usually means some names have moved up or gone. Season 52 has both.

Promoted to the main cast:

Ashley Padilla
Jane Wickline

Both were featured players and have now moved to the main cast. At SNL, a promotion signals that the show sees a performer as a core part of the ensemble.

Departures:

Chloe Fineman left after seven seasons. She joined as a featured player in Season 45 and was promoted to the main cast in Season 47. Her celebrity impressions were a regular part of the show for most of that time.
Martin Herlihy, a member of the "Please Don't Destroy" group, also left. Ben Marshall is now the only member of the trio still on SNL. Marshall returns this season as a featured player.
Bowen Yang left earlier, partway through Season 51. He left in December 2025, after the episode hosted by Ariana Grande. He had started on the show as a writer before joining the cast. A midseason exit is unusual at SNL, where most departures happen over the summer break.

The cast still totals 17 members. Fineman's and Herlihy's spots went to the two new featured players.

The full Season 52 cast and first episodes

With the promotions, departures and new hires settled, here is the full Season 52 lineup of 17 cast members.

Main cast (10):

Kenan Thompson
Michael Che
Colin Jost
Mikey Day
Andrew Dismukes
Marcello Hernández
James Austin Johnson
Sarah Sherman
Ashley Padilla (newly promoted)
Jane Wickline (newly promoted)

Featured players (7):

Ben Marshall
Tommy Brennan
Jeremy Culhane
Kam Patterson
Veronika Slowikowska
Saidah Belo-Osagie (new)
Grace Reiter (new)

Kenan Thompson is the cast's longest-serving member. Che and Jost return as the anchors of "Weekend Update."

The first episodes:

Sept. 26: Season 52 premiered with host Jalen Brunson, the New York Knicks guard and 2026 NBA Finals MVP, according to NBC. It was his first time hosting. KATSEYE was the musical guest.
Oct. 3: Dakota Johnson hosted, with musical guest Turnstile.
Oct. 10: Shane Gillis hosts, with musical guest Rosalía.
Oct. 31: Inde Navarrette hosts, with musical guest Gracie Abrams.

The Oct. 31 episode falls on Halloween night, and SNL often fills holiday episodes with themed sketches. For fans tracking the two new featured players, the first few weeks of the season are a good time to watch.

Sources (6)

Photo by lincerta on Pixabay.