Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat, and Aristotle Athari to Leave Saturday Night Live

Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat, and Aristotle Athari are leaving Saturday Night Live, according to Variety and Deadline. The trio follow in the footsteps of fellow cast members Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, and Pete Davidson, whose departures were announced in May of this year.

Villaseñor has been a member of the cast since 2016 (the second Latina cast member, after Noël Wells), and her talent has honestly been underutilized. She got a few moments to shine in Season 47 though, like co-hosting the hilarious fake talk show A Peek at Pico with Selena Gomez and playing a driver/wannabe comedian on Weekend Update. Outside of SNL, she has a self-help workbook due out on October 25 called Whoops…I’m Awesome, so Villaseñor has some prospects on the horizon. Hopefully she’ll be picked up for a project where she’s properly valued.

Moffat likewise joined SNL in 2016, and was promoted to main cast member status in 2018. Some of his more memorable sketch appearances include him as the hallucinogen-addled movie reviewer Terry Fink and Guy Who Just Bought a Boat. He’s set to have a recurring role in the Apple TV+ drama Bad Monkey.

Athari was unfortunately only on SNL for Season 47, and he, like Villaseñor, did not get the screen time he deserved. The first Middle-Eastern man on the show, Athari was often relegated to the role of a background player, if he was featured at all. Fingers crossed there are better things for him on the horizon.