Saturday Night Live waved goodbye to a number of its veteran stars in May at the end of season forty-seven, and now new reports reveal that more of its stars have joined the growing exodus. A report by Deadline reveals that Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, and Aristotle Athari are the latest cast members that will not be returning for the upcoming season 48, bringing the number of cast members to depart the show from last season down to seven.

These latest departures come as no surprise given the announcement from the show's creator Lorne Michaels that this year would be "a year of change" for the show. The 47th season historically featured the highest number of performers with a lineup of 21 cast members, and it seems as though having a more compact cast list for future seasons is a part of the shake-up plan. Both Moffat and Villaseñor, who joined SNL in 2016 as featured players, are bowing out after 6 years on the show. They were upgraded to the main cast in 2018 and have since stayed on, making significant contributions to the improv show. On the other hand, Athari only joined the show last year as a featured player.

Moffat built up his filmography while on SNL, and will next be seen on Apple TV+'s comedy Bad Monkey where he booked the recurring role of Evan Shook. Villaseñor, the second Latina cast member to be promoted to a regular fix following Noel Wells, first hinted at her departure from the show in early August when she posted a clip of her SNL memories on her Instagram stories. She then announced a standup tour to begin in the fall, which is the usual premier window for new SNL seasons. Villaseñor spent her off time from SNL lending her voice to animated shows including OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, American Dad!, and more recently, Disney's Amphibia. A multi-hyphenate, Villaseñor would likely not be lacking in activities to keep her engaged post-SNL; she's been doing standup since her teens and is also a musician with two albums under her belt.

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In addition to cast departures, changes to SNL have extended behind-the-scenes. Lindsay Shookus, who is one of the show's producers and recently began leading the talent department, will also be leaving the show, bringing an end to a stint that has lasted for two decades. It remains to be seen if new cast members will be joining to replace the departed ones, as SNL is yet to announce the lineup for the upcoming 48th season. S

ans any further departures, the SNL cast list includes Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, James Austin, Punkie Johnson, Bowen Yang, Michael Che, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Sherman, and Cecily Strong. A few days ago, SNL revealed via a Twitter post that it was in search of a host for the 48th season and asked fans to suggest names.