‘S.N.L.’ Loses Three More Cast Members
Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat and Aristotle Athari are the latest performers to depart “Saturday Night Live.”
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Lorne Michaels continues to make good on his vow that “a year of change” is coming to “Saturday Night Live”: Three more cast members are departing the long-running NBC sketch series before the start of its 48th season.
Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat and Aristotle Athari are leaving “S.N.L.,” according to a person familiar with the departures who was granted anonymity to discuss plans NBC had not announced publicly.
Villaseñor and Moffat both joined “S.N.L.” as featured players in fall 2016 and were promoted to the main cast in fall 2018. On the show, Villaseñor has portrayed Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as well as original characters like Cesar Perez; she hosted the Film Independent Spirit Awards in April 2021. Moffat’s repertoire included a recurring impersonation of Eric Trump as well as characters like Guy Who Just Bought a Boat.
Athari, who performed previously in the comedy troupe Goatface and appeared on HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” joined “S.N.L.” last fall as a featured player.
NBC declined to comment on Thursday. The network did not respond to questions about why these performers were leaving or whether further changes were expected at “S.N.L.” in the coming weeks.
Their off-season exits follow the departures of the veteran cast members Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson and Kyle Mooney, who all made their final “S.N.L.” appearances on the show’s 47th season finale, in May. The new season is expected to begin in October.
Dave Itzkoff is a culture reporter whose latest book, “Robin,” a biography of Robin Williams, was published in May 2018. @ditzkoff
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