SNL Season 52 Adds Reiter and Belo-Osagie to Cast

Deadline reports SNL's Season 52 brings in newcomers Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie while Jalen Brunson opens the season as host.

According to Deadline, Saturday Night Live's Season 52, which begins at the end of the month, adds two new core cast members: Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie. Deadline describes Belo-Osagie as known for her soccer sketches, including ones where she stages a meet-cute with a World Cup player and plays intense fans who just recently joined a team's fanbase. Reiter, per Deadline, comes from the American Highschool Sports comedy TikTok account, a group whose skits are based on relatable high school life moments. Last season's new faces — Veronika Slowikowska, Tommy Brennan, Kam Patterson and Jeremy Culhane — are all returning, Deadline says, alongside veterans like Kenan Thompson, who the outlet notes has been with the show for 23 seasons since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in its history.

Deadline reports the departures that followed Season 51: Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang, both of whom spent seven seasons on the show, and Martin Herlihy, who was a writer and performer for five seasons. The outlet notes Yang departed mid-season during Season 51, while Fineman left after the conclusion of that season. For fans of the ensemble, that means Season 52 opens with a rebuilt bench: per Deadline's cast gallery, the returning roster includes Marcello Hernández (since 2022), Michael Che and Colin Jost anchoring Weekend Update (both since 2014), James Austin Johnson, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Ben Marshall, Sarah Sherman, Jane Wickline and Ashley Padilla.

Deadline reports New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson will host the Season 52 premiere, with KATSEYE performing as musical guest. Yahoo Sports, running a full history of athletes who have hosted the show, lists Brunson as hosting an episode dated September 26, 2026, placing him in a lineage that Yahoo traces back to former Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton, the first professional athlete to host, in January 1977. Yahoo's list runs from Bill Russell and Michael Jordan to Tom Brady, Travis Kelce and Ronda Rousey. The remainder of the season's early slate, per Deadline: Dakota Johnson with Turnstile, Shane Gillis with Rosalía, and Inde Navarrette with Gracie Abrams.

For devoted sketch-comedy readers, the interesting thread is how SNL balances continuity with reinvention. Deadline's framing suggests the show is betting on the Season 51 class — Slowikowska, Brennan, Patterson and Culhane all getting a second year — while pulling two performers from internet-native comedy worlds: TikTok high school sports satire and character-driven soccer sketches.