With four cast members (and counting) not returning for Saturday Night Live Season 51, the post-anniversary season of SNL looks like a bit of a bloodbath, and that’s because it kinda is. And that may be by design.

Before the first bit of the drip drip drip of cast exits started to come through, creator Lorne Michaels warned that this could be the case. He talked to Puck last week and explained his rationale for making big swings in the cast changes this year.

Season 50’s cast had some exits as well — Punkie Johnson , Molly Kearney , and Chloe Troast — but Michaels said that because he was planning an anniversary event for the landmark year, “there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions or anything that was going to take the focus off.” So most of the major players came back. H

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