‘SNL’ announces premiere date amid major shake-ups, cancellation talk
nypost.comwon’t be returning to the show this year.Ben Affleck’s former girlfriend and “SNL” producer Lindsay Shookus is also out after 20 years working behind the scenes of the parody skit series.“They’re shaking things up,” a source told Page Six this past May.However, Kenan Thompson is coming back for the upcoming season alongside returning stars Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, James Austin, Punkie Johnson, Bowen Yang, Michael Che, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Sarah Sherman and Cecily Strong.Thompson, 44, previously admitted that he believes “SNL” should end sometime in the very near future.
The Nickelodeon alum appeared on Charlamagne tha God’s “Hell of a Week” series in July and noted that if creator Lorne Michaels, 77, retires after the 2024-25 season, then the show could properly come to an epic conclusion.Michaels created “SNL” in 1975 and has been the showrunner for most of its multidecade run.
He stopped producing the show from 1980 to 85.“There could be a lot of validity to that rumor, because 50 is a good number to stop at,” Thompson said. “That’s an incredible package.
He will be, probably, close to 80 years old at that point, and, you know, he’s the one who’s had his touch on the whole thing.”“[NBC] might slash the budget and then at that point, you can’t really do the same kind of show.
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