The original cast of 'Saturday Night Live' season six: Denny Dillon (left), Charles Rocket, Ann Risley, Joe Piscopo, Gail Matthius and Gilbert Gottfried. NBC/Everett Collection Logo text As of the publish time of this story, four members of Saturday Night Live's season 50 cast aren't returning for season 51, which is set to begin Oct. 4. The departures of Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim and Devon Walker make for the largest cast turnover since 2022, when eight performers left. It's also far from unprecedented in SNL's history - in fact, the show has rarely gone more than a few years without a significant overhaul of its cast. Over the half-century Saturday Night Live has been airing on NBC, cast shakeups have roiled the show numerous times, with some performers leaving of their own accord and others let go for a myriad of reasons ranging from budget cuts to a desire by SNL mastermind Lorne Michaels for fresh faces and perspectives. Related Stories TV 'SNL' Alum Devon Walker Addresses Fan Response to Cast Shake-Up: "Y'all Acting Like We Died" TV Heidi Gardner Leaves 'SNL' After Eight Seasons as Cast Exodus Continues "The cryptic hiring protocols extend to staying hired," writes Susan Morrison in her biography of Michaels, Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live. "Cast and writers are supposed to be notified by July about whether they are being asked back. (Michaels has a rule about not making big decisions in June, when he is sick of everyone, and exhausted.) That date often slips by, with people not knowing their fates until Labor Day, a month before the season premiere." Those changes have often led to "Can SNL survive?" headlines, particularly when long-tenured or beloved castmembers left. The answer has been "yes" every time so far (see "on the air for half a century," above). Here are some of the bigger changes in the show's history, most of which happened during summer hiatuses. 1980 The first major change in SNL was arguably the most significant one: After the 1979-80 season, all of the remaining original Not Ready for Prime Time Players - Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner - left along with Bill Murray, who joined the show midway through the second season. Oh, and so did series creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, who wanted to pursue other opportunities. In the wake of Michaels' and the former cast's departure, the 1980-81 season was generally a mess, with the new ensemble unfavorably compared to the previous one and executive producer Jean Doumanian fired in March 1981. Dick Ebersol, then NBC's vp late night programming, took over after that and would run SNL for four more seasons. While Joe Piscopo and a 19-year-old Eddie Murphy (who had his first lines three episodes into the season) broke out, Gilbert Gottfried, Ann Risley and Charles Rocket were let go along with Doumanian; Denny Dillon, Gail Matthius, Murphy and Piscopo were joined by Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky and Tony Rosato in the main cast for one episode before a writers strike prematurely (and maybe mercifully) ended the season in April 1981. The 'SNL' season 10 cast. Top: Rich Hall, Mary Gross, Christopher Guest, Jim Belushi; middle: Billy Crystal, Harry Shearer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Gary Kroeger; bottom: Martin Short, Pamela Stephenson. NBC/Everett Collection 1984 Through 1986 Ebersol's final year running SNL and Michaels' return drove three consecutive seasons of big cast overhauls. Murphy, Piscopo, Duke, Kazurinsky and Brad Hall left or were let go after the 1983-84 season. The show's 10th anniversary season in 1984-85 was handed mostly to a group of comedy veterans: Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Harry Shearer (who left midway through the season), Martin Short and Pamela Stephenson joined returning players Jim Belushi, Mary Gross, Gary Kroeger and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Michaels returned to the show for season 11 in 1985-86 with a completely new cast. Crystal, Guest et al were out, replaced by a mostly younger ensemble of Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Nora Dunn, Anthony Michael Hall, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Randy Quaid, Terry Sweeney and Danitra Vance. Damon Wayans was a featured player for most of the season. Despite the presence of several future stars, the season was considered a disaster - so much so that after another big shakeup the following summer, Madonna (who hosted the '85-'86 season premiere) returned for a cold open sketch that said the previous season was all "a horrible, horrible dream." Dunn, Lovitz, Miller and featured player A. Whitney Brown returned for season 12, joined by Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson and featured player Kevin Nealon, beginning a relatively stable era on SNL. Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri and Jim Breuer in 'SNL' season 21. NBC/Everett Collection 1995 After a few years of incremental changes, as the Carvey-Hooks-Hartman-Mike Myers core gave way to the likes of Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, David Spade an