Heidi Gardner leaving Saturday Night Live after eight seasons
We knew that there was a chance that big changes would be made ahead of Saturday Night Live season 51 and now, it is official: Heidi Gardner is departing the show.
According to a report from Deadline, the longtime cast member’s exit is now official. She joins Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, and Devon Walker as performers who are no longer in the cast. Her exit is interesting, mostly because it is both surprising and unsurprising at the same time. Eight seasons is a long time for any cast member to be on the show and you have to think of that as a super-successful run. She’s also done enough to come back someday as a host.
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Now if there is any reason at all to be rather sad about this news, it is rather simple: Consider the fact that Gardner did not get any sort of major on-screen goodbye. Remember when Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, or Cecily Strong got some sort of significant farewell? We tend to think that if you’ve been on the show longer than six seasons, the series really should do something to send you off.
With Gardner now gone, the focus now shifts to some other longtime performers like Mikey Day or Bowen Yang. Kenan Thompson has been there longer than anyone, but we do think that there is a good chance he still ends up being there for some time still. With him in particular, we do think that we are looking at a case where he is going to be there however long he wants to.
The season premiere of SNL is still several weeks away; it is our hope that we at least get to hear about some newcomers before too long.
What do you think about Heidi Gardner leaving Saturday Night Live ahead of season 51?
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