‘Saturday Night Live’ announces four new cast members for season 48

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Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker will join the late-night sketch show after the departures of multiple SNL mainstays in the last several months

Saturday Night Live has welcomed four new cast members!

According to a Sept. 15 press release, Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker will join the late-night sketch series ahead of its forthcoming 48th season.

Hernandez is a Miami-based comedian, writer, and actor who was recently named a Just for Laughs New Face of Comedy in 2022.

Prior to SNL, Kearney performed in Amazon‘s A League of Their Own and Disney+’s The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, and she was chosen for Comedy Central’s Up Next showcase in 2019. Kearney will be the show’s first nonbinary cast member.

Longfellow, who is originally from Phoenix, has been featured on Netflix’s Introducing showcase and NBC’s Bring the Funny. He was also selected as one of TBS’s Comics to Watch for the 2017 New York Comedy Festival.

Texas native Walker also appeared in Comedy Central’s Up Next showcase in 2017 and has written for Freeform’s Everything’s Trash and Netflix’s Big Mouth.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- Natasha Lyonne, Japanese Breakfast Episode 1826 -- Pictured: (l-r) Anchor Michael Che, with Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang as Trend Forecasters during Weekend Update on Saturday, May 14, 2022 -- (Photo by: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Longtime cast members Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, and Pete Davidson left the show after the season 47 finale, ushering in a new era for the show.

PEOPLE revealed on September 1 that three more SNL comedians would not be returning for season 48: cast members Melissa Villasenor and Alex Moffat, as well as guest comedian Aristotle Athari.

“There are new people, and things are changing, and a different generation comes into the show,” Michaels, 77, told reporters backstage at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards after SNL picked up its sixth consecutive outstanding variety series trophy.

Michaels noted that the COVID pandemic over the last few years may have played into SNL stars’ decisions about when and how to take their final bow.

“I think people might’ve left earlier, but there was no place to go,” he acknowledged. “It was difficult, particularly when you’re rehearsing in masks and it’s all protocols and there’s nothing to do after the show except go home.”

Season 48 of SNL will premiere on Oct. 1 on NBC.