Saturday Night Live (season 44)


The forty-fourth season of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on September 29, 2018, during the 2018–19 television season with host Adam Driver and musical guest Kanye West and concluded on May 18, 2019, with host Paul Rudd and musical guest DJ Khaled.

Cast

Prior to the start of the season, Luke Null was let go from the show. Upright Citizens Brigade alum Ego Nwodim joined the cast as a featured player, with Nwodim becoming the seventh African-American female cast member in the show's history.
Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, and Melissa Villaseñor were upgraded to repertory status while Heidi Gardner and Chris Redd remained featured players.
Aside from Null, all other cast members from the previous season returned to the show, including guest star Alec Baldwin in his role as President Donald Trump.
This would be the last season for Leslie Jones, who departed after five seasons in the cast in favor of focusing on her movie career. Her departure was announced on August 27, 2019.

Cast roster

Repertory players
Featured players
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor

Writers

Prior to the start of the season, the show added Alison Gates, Alan Linic, Eli Mandel, and Bowen Yang to the writing staff, while co-head writer Bryan Tucker was designated a senior writer, leaving Colin Jost, Michael Che, and Kent Sublette as the show's remaining head writers.

Episodes