SNL Names Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie as Season 52 Newcomers

Saturday Night Live has set its two newest cast members. Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie will join Season 52 as featured players, the entry-level tier of the long-running sketch show. Deadline reported the additions on 16 September.

Season 52 starts on 26 September at 11:30 p.m. ET. New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson will host the premiere. Girl group KATSEYE will appear as musical guest.

The early autumn schedule is already locked. Dakota Johnson hosts with Turnstile as musical guest on 3 October. Shane Gillis and Rosalia follow on 10 October. Inde Navarette and Gracie Abrams take 31 October, according to Variety.

Most familiar favourites are staying. Kenan Thompson, Michael Che, Colin Jost and Mikey Day return, alongside Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline. Last season's intake of Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska all return as well.

The arrivals follow several exits. Bowen Yang left mid-season in December. Chloe Fineman announced her departure in July after seven seasons. Ego Nwodim exited in autumn 2025, while Martin Herlihy departed after five seasons, most recently working as a writer after performing with sketch trio Please Don't Destroy.

Reiter arrives with a strong online base. The Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin native is a member of American High's sketch team and an original member of TikTok-based sketch show Stapleview. She has built a large following on TikTok and YouTube. She starred in Tim Robinson's HBO comedy The Chair Company, stars in the upcoming series Minimum Wage, and was named to Variety's 10 Creators to Watch list.

Belo-Osagie is a Nigerian American filmmaker and comedian from Queens, now based in Brooklyn. She created the event series Afrobeats Futura and the solo show Saidah Gets Closure. She also wrote and directed the short film Tinge.

Both performers came through the show's usual hiring funnel. Executives assessed more than a dozen comedians in auditions across Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Deadline had earlier flagged Reiter and Belo-Osagie as standouts at showcases and screen tests.

For viewers tuning in on 26 September, this means two new faces alongside a settled core. Two sketches in, they will either land or they will not. That is the job.