Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 14, 2026
Last season, I handicapped the SNL cast members most likely to walk — or be walked — after the show’s 50th season. I got some of it right. I also said Colin Jost and Michael Che were finally done, and that Mikey Day would be gone to do Netflix comedies. They are all, very much, still here. So consider this year’s list a work in progress.
Before we get to the names, let’s revisit screen time.
Over the course of SNL’s 50-and-a-half seasons, there have been a number of cast members who racked up precious few minutes during their time on the show. In 1981, Emily Prager appeared in a few dress rehearsal sketches but never made it to air as a cast member. Laurie Metcalf, likewise, has a one-episode tenure on the long-running series. A couple of people were hired but never appeared at all — Catherine O’Hara, who quit, and Shane Gillis, who was fired — and several high-profile folks had short stints (Ben Stiller lasted four episodes, while Damon Wayans made it a full 12).
In recent years, folks have become more granular about screen time. In 2017-18, for instance, Luke Null only appeared in a handful of episodes. Lately, however, LateNighter has been tracking actual minutes of screen time, and in that era, it appears that Aristotle Athari holds the record for least screen time in the modern era at less than 16 minutes. That’s a record that may not be beaten by a full-time featured player anytime soon. In Season 46, Lauren Holt clocked only 25 minutes before being let go. In Season 49, Molly Kearney hit just 24 minutes before the same fate.
As I’ve previously written, I was curious whether there might be a magic number that more or less predicts whether a cast member is unlikely to return the following season — and to be honest, there’s no guaranteed line. Emil Wakim was fired after a single season with 52 minutes, but Jane Wickline returned despite logging only 48. She’s on track for another fairly low-minute season, too.
For the purposes of this piece, I’m going to single out poor, extraordinarily talented Chloe Troast, unexpectedly fired after one season in which she accumulated 44 minutes. That’s the Troast Line. Unless a cast member shows tremendous promise, it’s hard to overcome fewer than 44 minutes of screen time and make it back. Devon Walker, in his final season, didn’t (40 minutes), nor did Punkie Johnson (37 minutes).
One caveat worth raising before we get to the list: screen time alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Ben Marshall, for instance, is averaging under three minutes per episode — around 45 minutes on the season, just barely north of the Troast Line — but he’s been quietly good, he’s a presence in the show’s promos, and Lorne clearly sees something in him. Low numbers don’t always mean the same thing for every cast member. With that in mind, here are the five cast members most likely to be gone after Season 51.
Jane Wickline is the trickiest case on this list. Earlier this year, LateNighter described Season 51 as “a tale of two Wicklines” — half her episodes under two minutes, half over — which is a kind way of saying she’s wildly inconsistent. She’s averaging just over four minutes per episode, putting her at roughly 69 minutes on the season, which sounds comfortable until you remember she barely survived last year on 48, and that her presence still feels incidental rather than essential. Granted, I love her. Her “Weekend Update” songs have been legitimately great, and she recently signed with WME. But that cuts both ways: it means Lorne sees something, and it means she now has options. I could see this going either way. I think it goes the wrong way — not because she isn’t talented in her own quirky way, but because SNL does not have infinite patience for featured players who haven’t found a live sketch lane, and Wickline hasn’t found hers yet beyond being the cast member who randomly pops up in a sketch.
Tommy Brennan began and ended 2025 on SNL quietly, with under a minute of screen time in his debut and barely more in the stretch that followed. He had a breakout moment or two — his “Karaoke Night” with Nikki Glaser had been his longest appearance of the season — but he’s averaging around three and a half minutes per episode, roughly 60 minutes on the season, and while his numbers nudged upward in April, the trajectory of his first year still hasn’t traced the arc you want to see. Brennan is decent. The question is whether SNL knows what to do with him, and through 17 episodes, the answer appears to be: Not yet (if Mikey Day leaves, however, Brennan’s chances of staying improve).
Kam Patterson used to be the one I’m most confident about getting the boot, but he’s had a decent stretch and has been improving late in the season. That said, he’s averaging just over two minutes per episode — around 38 minutes on the season, which puts him below the Troast Line — and he’s been showing up primarily in “Weekend Update” desk bits — the Pete Davidson lane (and he’s no Pete Davidson). And then there’s this: earlier this season, Patterson vented about the gig during a stand-up set, telling the crowd, “I have no idea what the f*ck I signed up for, dog.” I’m not rooting against him — but having seen him a few times on Kill Tony, I’m not not rooting against him, either.
Mikey Day — and I say this as someone who has been wrong about him before — may actually be done this time. I know, I know. I said it last year. But Day is now the tenth most-appeared cast member in the show’s entire history. He has over 700 sketches. He told Variety he wanted to stay “until it’s sad.” At ten seasons and counting, I’d argue we’re approaching sad. His screen time has dropped from his high-usage Season 50 levels and while that’s not an alarming number in isolation, it represents a meaningful fall-off for a cast member who used to anchor episodes. Day has had a genuine return to form in the back half of this season, which I’ll acknowledge, but at some point the show has to decide whether to keep paying for a cast member in his eleventh year when Andrew Dismukes is right there doing a perfectly good version of the same archetype.
Michael Che and Colin Jost. I said this last year, and the year before. But I have been saying it for several seasons now for a reason: they have been threatening to leave for several seasons. Che is 43 and one of just five cast members in the show’s history to reach a 12th season, which is either a testament to loyalty or an indication that the show genuinely doesn’t know how to replace him. Meanwhile, Jost is actually on pace for his most prolific statistical season ever thanks to his Pete Hegseth impression, which on the surface argues against my prediction. And yet. Che is going to mean it when he says he’s done at some point. I believe this is that year. And where Che goes, Jost follows. Ironically, this is the one year that Che has not been teasing his departure publicly. Maybe that’s an indication that he’s actually leaving.
Other possibilities: Sarah Sherman, who is still very useful but may be ready to move on, and Chloe Fineman, who is an excellent utility player and impressionist, but seven seasons in that role may be long enough.
