Four fresh faces are appearing on “Saturday Night Live” live from New York. On Thursday, the venerable sketch comedy programme tweeted about adding four new cast members. Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker are now part of the cast, the tweet said. Hernandez has performed as the opening act for comedians Gilbert Gottfried and Tim Dillon and has been on Telemundo’s “Acceso Total.” He posted a photo of himself on Instagram on Thursday with the message, “Little Cuban Dominican guy from Miami is on SNL.” On NBC’s “Bring the Funny,” which is hosted by veteran “SNL” performer Kenan Thompson, Longfellow made an appearance. Will appear on @nbcsnl! The newcomer posted on Instagram, “I’m so sorry!

Walker has made appearances on Comedy Central and writes for Phoebe Robinson’s “Everything’s Trash” on Freeform and Netflix’s “Big Mouth.”

He tweeted about the news, writing, “Gonna be on @nbcsnl this year, hope that’s cool with y’all.”

Kearney has had an appearance on Amazon’s “A League of Their Own.” According to their Twitter bio, they utilise they/them pronouns. They have not yet mentioned joining the cast as of the time of writing.

Veteran actors Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, and Pete Davidson announced their exits from the show on the final episode earlier this year, prompting the new arrivals.

Earlier this month, the show’s other departing cast members, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseor, and Aristotle Athari, also made announcements.

Lindsay Shookus, a producer for “SNL,” who was once dating Ben Affleck, has left the show after 20 years of working behind the scenes.

Many fans are speculating that “SNL” may be coming to an end as a result of the casting changes.

In a recent appearance on Charlamagne tha God’s “Hell of a Week” programme, Thompson, who has been a part of the show since 2003, said that if 77-year-old creator Lorne Michaels retires after the 2024–2025 season, the show would have officially ended.

In an interview with CBS in December, Michaels contributed to the idea that the comedy programme would stop in 2025.

However, Michaels described the forthcoming season as a “transition year” to Entertainment Weekly onstage at the Emmys on Monday. He also attributed the COVID-19 outbreak as a factor in a number of the show’s top performers deciding to end their runs.

However, he said, “There was nowhere to go, and furthermore, we were used to doing it, and we were under pressure to do it. I think others might have left early.” It was challenging, especially while practising while wearing masks, following protocol, and having nothing to do after the performance but walk home.

SNL’s 48th season will debut on NBC on October 1. Although many viewers have pushed for comic veteran Carol Burnett to make her “SNL” debut, no hosts or musical guests have been revealed.