Beck Bennett Departs ‘SNL’

Pictured: Beck Bennett as Vin Diesel during the "AMC Theatres Commercial" sketch
Pictured: Beck Bennett as Vin Diesel during the "AMC Theatres Commercial" sketch on Saturday, May 22, 2021 (Image credit: Photo by: Will Heath/NBC)

Saturday Night Live shared its roster for the upcoming 47th season, with newcomers Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman joining the ensemble. Beck Bennett, who came on board SNL in 2013, is not returning. 

Bennett portrayed Mike Pence, Vladimir Putin, President Clinton and Wolf Blitzer, among other characters. “Gonna miss you so much,” Bennett said on Instagram. “Thank you for 8 years of remarkable people and incredible experiences that completely changed my life. I had so much fun.”

The cast includes Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villaseñor and Bowen Yang, featuring Aristotle Athari, Andrew Dismukes, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson and Sarah Sherman. 

Saturday Night Live premieres Oct. 2 on NBC, with Owen Wilson hosting and Kacey Musgraves providing the music.

Saturday Night Live is produced in association with Broadway Video. The creator and executive producer is Lorne Michaels.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.