Season 49 is the forty-ninth season of Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC on October 14, 2023, during the 2023–24 television season, with longtime former cast member Pete Davidson as host (who was supposed to host the previous season, before the WGA strike) and musical guest Ice Spice, and concluded on May 18, 2024, hosted by actor Jake Gyllenhaal, with musical guest Sabrina Carpenter.
After the departures of eleven cast members between seasons 46, 47, and 48, the entire cast from the previous season returned, with the exception of Cecily Strong, who departed midway through the previous season returned. James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman, who both joined as featured players prior to season 47 in 2021, were promoted to repertory status this season. Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, the four of whom were hired in 2022 for the previous season, remained as featured players. On October 4, 2023, New York-based improviser and comedian Chloe Troast (who co-starred in the new film Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain) was announced as a new cast member. Troast had originally auditioned for the previous season and came close to being hired.
This also marked the ninth season without anybudget cuts to the cast between the premiere of the season and the previous season's finale— there have been no cast departures since Season 45.
While not credited as cast members, SNL staff writers and comedy group Please Don't Destroy (Martin Herlihy, Ben Marshall, and John Higgins) continue to appear in digital videos. For the first time, Please Don't Destroy is credited in this season's opening montage with "A Film by Please Don't Destroy", marking the first time since Robert Smigel's "TV Funhouse" cartoons that a recurring segment has its own credit in the opening.
The previous season's opening montage is retained; however, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman have been promoted to repertory players and Chloe Troast is added to the cast in the opening montage as a featured player.
This would be the final season for cast members Punkie Johnson, Molly Kearney, and Troast; Johnson announced her departure at a comedy show during the offseason,[1] Kearney announced their departure via Instagram[2], and Deadline reported Troast's departure. By the end of this season, Johnson had completed a tenure of 4 years, beginning in season 46; Kearney completed a tenure of 2 years, beginning in season 48; and Troast was let go after completed a single year tenure.
This also marked the second season to had 20 episodes in it, the first one was Season 46, due to the WGA/Hollywood strikes, which delayed the premiere by about a week.
Cast[]
Changes[]
| Not Returning | Promoted | New |
|---|---|---|
Repertory Players[]
Featured Players[]
Please Don't Destroy[]
Episodes[]
| Preceded by: Season 48 |
Season 49 (2023— 2024) |
Followed by: Season 50 |
| Seasons | |
|---|---|