‘SNL’ Exodus Continues as Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and Aristotle Athari Leave Ahead of Season 48

Saturday Night Live is continuing to shake up its cast ahead of Season 48. The late night comedy show is dropping three more cast members before its fall return, with Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and Aristotle Athari saying their SNL goodbyes, Deadline reports.

Moffat and Villaseñor are both leaving the show after six years; they joined SNL as featured players in 2016 and were bumped up to main cast members two years later, in 2018. Athari’s departure comes after one season on the NBC comedy show.

During his time on the show, Moffat memorably portrayed Eric Trump, as well as the Weekend Update character The Guy Who Just Bought a Boat. Villaseñor was known to SNL audiences for her impressions, which included Christina Aguilera and Kristen Wiig. During his brief tenure on the show, Athari played the Weekend Update character Laughintosh 3000.

The latest exits mark the second round of SNL departures ahead of the new season, which is shaping up to be quite the fresh start for the sketch series. Months before Moffat, Villaseñor and Athari were confirmed to be leaving, a group of core SNL veterans stepped away from the show when Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney and Pete Davidson all left in May.

SNL boss Lorne Michaels promised a “clean slate” for Season 48, per Deadline, and that’s clearly proving to be true as changes are even happening behind-the-scenes. Lindsay Shookus, a producer who worked on SNL for 20 years, left the show in August ahead of the new season.

NBC has not yet set a return date for SNL, which is expected to be back with new episodes later this year, but the show is already doing plenty of prep. The SNL Twitter account asked fans recently who they think should host Season 48, with some pretty wacky replies popping up in the comments.

We’ll just have to wait and see if SNL takes any of the kooky suggestions when Season 48 lands on NBC this fall.