Three more bite the dust at studio 8H: Saturday Night Live cast members Alex Moffat and Melissa Villaseñor — as well as featured player Aristotle Athari — won’t be returning for the show’s 48th season.
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, Moffat, Villaseñor, and Athari follow Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Kyle Mooney, all of whom said their goodbyes during the season 47 finale back in May. Longtime producer Lindsay Shookus also departed in August.
Moffat and Villaseñor joined SNL as featured performers in 2016 and were promoted to main cast members two years later. Moffat became known for impressions including Joe Biden, Eric Trump, and Beto O’Rourke, as well as original characters like Guy Who Just Bought a Boat on “Weekend Update.”
Villaseñor — SNL‘s first Latina to be promoted to repertory status — portrayed figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sarah Silverman, and Björk. Athari’s tenure on SNL only lasted one season, having joined as a featured player last year alongside James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman.
NBC declined The Hollywood Reporter‘s request for comment on the departures. As long as nobody else calls it quits, SNL will return for Season 48 this fall with Johnson, Sherman, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang.
