Saturday Night Live: Cecily Strong cameo as Elise Stefanik cut

Saturday Night Live
Photo: NBC

We know that there was a big cameo in this past Saturday Night Live episode with Julia Stiles — but apparently, there was meant to be more.

According to reports from both The Wrap as well as Saturday Night Network, former cast member Cecily Strong was originally meant to appear in the cold open as Elise Stefanik. She even played the part in rehearsals! However, when the show itself arrived she was replaced by new cast member Chloe Troast, and it remains unclear just how much time she actually had in order to prepare.

So what is going on with this? We hope it’s just a case of the show deciding to save a Cecily appearance for this weekend’s episode hosted by Kate McKinnon. It would make some sense to actually have the two back together for that occasion!

Regardless, this show cutting cameos is still somewhat of a surprise given that for the past decade or so, we’ve seen them become increasingly reliant on them. With that being said, we do honestly hope we move more into a situation where cast members are utilized more for figures in current events, save for instances like Tina Fey as Sarah Palin where the resemblance is so clear that you have to do it. (The same goes here for Larry David playing Bernie Sanders.)

For the record, we also hope that Strong comes back at some point for her own solo hosting gig, even if we’re well-aware that it hasn’t been that long since she last was a cast member on the show. If she turns up on the next new episode, it would actually be poetic since she departed as a cast member on the last episode of 2022.

Related Be sure to get some more news when it comes to Saturday Night Live right now, including the cameo from Stiles

What do you think about Cecily Strong and the last-minute switch-out on this past Saturday Night Live?

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