‘Saturday Night Live’ Adds Trio to Season 45 Cast

NBC’s Saturday Night Live is adding three new faces to its cast. 

Chloe Fineman, Shane Gillis and Bowen Yang will join the show’s 45th season as featured players. They come aboard following the departure of Leslie Jones, who left the sketch comedy series after five years to concentrate on upcoming movie projects and a Netflix comedy special.

Fineman is a veteran of Los Angeles’ Groundlings and was a New Face at the 2018 Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Her Instagram features her doing impressions of Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams, presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and Jojo Siwa, among others. Fineman has appeared on Jane the Virgin and Search Party.

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Stand-up comic Gillis was recently recognized as a New Face at the 2019 Just for Laughs Festival and has performed at Comedy Central’s Clusterfest. (Gillis was subsequently dropped from the show after racial and homophobic slurs he made on a podcast came to light.)

Yang joined SNL last season as a writer and is the show’s only Asian-American castmember. He also co-hosts the Las Culturistas podcast. Yang appeared on camera as Kim Jong-Un last season in a sketch with Sandra Oh.

Jones is, at the moment, the only departing castmember. Emmy-winner Kate McKinnon has signed a new deal to return. 

Saturday Night Live‘s 45th season is set to bow Sept. 28 with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Billie Eilish.

Sept. 24, 3:20 p.m. Updated with Shane Gillis being dropped from SNL.

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