If you were planning to mark your calendars and start a countdown to the premiere of Saturday Night Live's new season next month, you're going to have to wait a little while longer. Following the landmark 50th season of the late night sketch series and the subsequent celebration of its milestone anniversary, SNL will be taking a bit more time to return with new episodes this fall.
While SNL season 50 made its premiere in late September, that won't be the case with season 51. NBC has set a premiere date for Saturday Night Live season 51 on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. That's not too much longer to wait compared to late September, and it's also in line with the network's plans to kick off the fall television season in October. But it's going to be a bittersweet season.
SNL season 51 premieres in October after cast exits
According to a report earlier this month, SNL boss Lorne Michaels was planning a number of major cast exits ahead of season 51. Like clockwork, the cast purge quickly took effect in late August with cast members Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow being announced to depart the series so far, though more cast members could exit in the coming days and weeks.
In addition to the cast exits, Saturday Night Live also lost writer Celeste Yim, who announced on Aug. 24 that they won't be returning for another season. Yim was the first out transgender writer to work on the long-running series. It's unclear whether Yim left the series as part of the ongoing behind the scenes shakeups or they decided to leave the series on their own.
When SNL returns this fall, the series will have a lot of material to tackle with both pop culture and political topics grabbing headlines season season 50 wrapped in May 2025. Perhaps most notably, the Paramount merger with Skydance resulted in the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which in turn created a tense back-and-forth between President Trump and late night hosts.
There's no doubt that the sketch series will add its own two sense on the situation in some form or another, though with the dwindling cast, the show could be running out of options for actors to play Colbert. Surely, they will find someone — and maybe even get a cameo from the host himself. Let's manifest it! SNL will also get to chime in on the engagement of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
Speaking of, season 51 premieres one day after Swift releases her upcoming twelfth studio album The Life of a Showgirl, which has fans wondering if the Grammy winner could make her latest appearance on the series as musical guest. Again, let's manifest it! More plans for SNL season 51 will be revealed ahead of the premiere, which is very soon even if it's not as soon as we'd like!
Saturday Night Live season 51 premieres Oct. 4 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.