SNL season 51 kicks off Oct. 4 with Bad Bunny hosting and Doja Cat as musical guest: Here’s what we know

SNL is gearing up for its 51st season, and it is already making waves. New cast members being added, old favorites departing, and some A-list celebrities lined up as hosts, the show is clearly trying to balance nostalgia with a new energy. Season 51 premieres on October 4, 2025, on NBC and Peacock.

What is making this season all the more thrilling is how SNL is marking double roles and anniversaries with surprise cameos from ex-stars, as well as newbie cast members attempting to prove themselves. The early teasers hint at an excellent season to come.

SNL Season 51 Hosts, Cast Updates, and Viral Hype

Of what has so far been made known, Season 51's initial three hosts are Bad Bunny, Amy Poehler, and Sabrina Carpenter. Bad Bunny hosts on Oct. 4, with new musical guest Doja Cat. Poehler is back on Oct. 11 (50 years to the date the show began), with musical guest Role Model. Sabrina Carpenter hosts and performs on October 18, her first hosting gig. These reveals have not only become viral due to who the host is, but due to when and what the roles are.

Bad Bunny was featured in last season's splashy 50th-anniversary party, so having him return is a bridge to the past and future. Poehler's episode precisely 50 years later surfs that nostalgia. The double-duty effort by Carpenter provides a novelty aspect it's not often that anyone is host and musical guest for the same show. Behind the cameras is more turnover.

Several members have left the cast, including Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and John Higgins. Five new featured players have meanwhile joined the cast: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, Veronika Slowikowska, and Ben Marshall. Most news outlets are most keen to report on the exits of long-serving members like Gardner (eight seasons) and Nwodim (seven seasons). Their exits appear to be the finality of an era, and thus their introduction of the new cast appears all the more evident. The storyline has been blazing a trail online because people are reacting to change. People are looking back fondly on those departing; they're asking themselves who the newcomers will be; and they're excited to see actors acting out of character. By combining and substituting veteran hosts, fresh faces, and a fresh cast, SNL seems to be attempting old-fashioned respect and rejuvenation, new-school style. Saturday Night Live's season 51 seems to be shaping up as more than an ordinary season of sketches.

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With its premiere episode, hosted by Bad Bunny, then Amy Poehler and Sabrina Carpenter, the show is embracing history and the future.

The mix of newcomers and veterans, topped off with some high-profile departures, creates a season that will feel both partially like a reboot and partially like a party celebrating all that SNL has built up to this point. Whether or not it will succeed is yet to be determined and will hinge on whether the newcomers can integrate, the musical guests surprise us, and the veterans play their best stuff. No matter what, one thing's for sure: there's plenty to anticipate.

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