Saturday Night Live season 48: premiere, cast and everything we know about the sketch show

Live from New York, Saturday Night Live returns for season 48 in fall 2022. The long-running sketch show has served as a launching pad for some of the biggest comedians over the last 50 years and has delivered countless hilarious moments that range from political satire to the fantastically weird.

Lorne Michaels founded SNL and remains at the helm (with it widely believed he intends to do so through the show’s 50th season), but there are some changes as cast members leave and new ones arrive, plus the weekly rotation of celebrity hosts, musical acts and surprise guests.

Without further ado, let’s dive into everything we know about Saturday Night Live season 48.

When is the Saturday Night Live season 48 premiere?

Saturday Night Live returns with its first episode of season 48 on Saturday, October 1, at 11:30 pm ET/8:30 pm PT. It'll be followed up by two more new SNL episodes on October 8 and October 15.

No info was given on who is hosting these episodes at this time.

Who left Saturday Night Live?

The Saturday Night Live cast is always being updated with new faces and, sadly, those departing. A number of big names announced that they were leaving SNL at the end of season 47 after many years and, on September 1, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that a handful of other cast members were exiting ahead of the season 48 premiere.

Here's the cast members that are leaving the show:

• Aristotle Athari

• Aidy Bryant

• Pete Davidson

• Kate McKinnon

• Alex Moffat

• Kyle Mooney

• Melissa Villaseñor

McKinnon shared her thought process for leaving the show after 10 years shortly after SNL season 47 ended with Live with Kelly and Ryan:

"I thought about it for a very long time, and it was very, very hard because all I ever wanted to do in my whole life was be on Saturday Night Live, and so I did. I loved it. I had the best decade, and then I was just like, my body was tired, and I felt like it was time."

Who is in the Saturday Night Live season 48 cast?

Despite the departures, there are still many cast members expected to return for SNL season 48. Plus four new cast members have been announced.

Here are the new cast members and their official bios from SNL:

• Marcello Hernandez: Hernandez is a comedian, writer and actor of Cuban/Dominican descent. He was selected as a Just for Laughs New Face of Comedy in 2022.

• Molly Kearney: Kearney (they/them) was selected for Comedy Central's "Up Next" Showcase in 2019. They can be seen in Prime Video's A League of Their Own and Disney Plus' The Mighty Ducks.

• Michael Longfellow: Longfellow 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.

• Devon Walker: Walker was selected for Comedy Central's "Up Next" showcase in 2017. He has written for Freeform's Everything's Trash and Netflix's Big Mouth.

Here's a look at the new SNL cast members:

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Here is the rest of the confirmed cast for Saturday Night Live season 48:

• Michael Che (repertory player)

• Mikey Day (repertory player)

• Andrew Dismukes (featured player)

• Chole Fineman (repertory player)

• Heidi Gardner (repertory player)

• James Austin Johnson (featured player)

• Punkie Johnson (featured player)

• Colin Jost (repertory player)

• Ego Nwodim (repertory player)

• Chris Redd (repertory player)

• Sarah Sherman (featured player)

• Cecily Strong (repertory player)

• Kenan Thompson (repertory player)

• Bowen Yang (repertory player)

When does Saturday Night Live air?

Granted that it is in the name, Saturday Night Live airs on Saturday nights. It also lives up to the last part of its name, as the show airs live across the US at 11:30 pm ET and 8:30 pm PT.

How to watch Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live airs on NBC, so anyone with a traditional cable subscription or TV antenna can tune in to their local NBC station to watch the show when it is live. A number of live TV streaming services also carry NBC, including FuboTV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. Finally, if you’re a Peacock Premium subscriber, NBC began streaming SNL live on the service during season 47 and is likely to do so again this year.

Want to catch up with SNL on-demand? The latest episodes are going to be exclusively available to stream the next day on Peacock, as NBC has ended its streaming deal with Hulu. However, clips from all new episodes are also shared on YouTube and if you have a service that carries NBC and has DVR capabilities, you can always record the show as well.

All 47 seasons of Saturday Night Live are available to stream on Peacock.