Popular sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” will welcome its first-ever nonbinary cast member for its 48th season, NBC announced Thursday.
Molly Kearney, a comedian who uses they/them pronouns, will join SNL as a featured player when the show returns this October. Kearney has previously appeared in the Amazon series “A League of Their Own” as well as the Disney+ show “The Mighty Ducks.”
Kearney shared a series of photos to their Instagram account thanking fans for the support after SNL revealed they would join next season’s cast.
“Head exploding!! Thanks for all the love everyone,” Kearney wrote.
“Saturday Night Live” will also welcome three additional comedians to the cast: Devon Walker, Marcello Hernandez and Michael Longfellow.
Walker works as a writer for the Netflix show “Big Mouth” and Hulu’s “Everything’s Trash,” and was recently included in Vulture’s list of “Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2022.”
Hernandez is a Cuban/Dominican standup comedian who has toured with the likes of Tim Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Jim Breuer and more, and is the creative director of “Only in Dade,” a Florida-based media company that interviews celebrities.
Longfellow is also a standup comedian who appeared on the series “How to Be Broke,” and has also been featured on Conan O’Brien’s show as well as “Laugh After Dark.”
The new casting announcements come soon after show creator Lorne Michaels said there would be “at least” four new cast members joining “Saturday Night Live” come its 48th season.
“This will be a transition year,” he told Deadline at the Emmy Awards. “Change years are always difficult but always exciting. There are new people. There are four new people at least for now.”
The four new cast members will join the show that recently lost a hefty chunk of its heavy-hitters. Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and Aristotle Athari will not be returning to “Saturday Night Live.”
Hosts and musical guests for the coming season, which premieres on Oct. 1 with subsequent shows on Oct. 8 and Oct. 15, have yet to be announced.