Heidi Gardner Said to Be Leaving SNL

Heidi Gardner is leaving Saturday Night Live after eight seasons, according to sources who spoke to outlets including Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. Gardner, who joined the cast as a featured player in 2017, was with the show for eight seasons, six of them as a main cast member. The outlets are using words like "shake-up" and even "earthquake" to describe the cast departures at the sketch comedy show during the summer hiatus, which is typically the time cast members leave. Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow are also leaving, as is one of the writers.

Gardner, known for such recurring characters as "Angel, aka Every Boxer's Girlfriend in Every Boxing Movie" on Weekend Update, had the longest tenure of all the female members of the SNL cast and appeared in more sketches than any other cast member during the show's 49th season. Gardner also played characters ranging from Taylor Swift to Jill Biden to Kristi Noem, and other recurring characters of hers included teenage movie critic Bailey Gismert. She has also appeared on series including Shrinking, You, Superstore, and Girls5Eva. Lorne Michaels had hinted at major cast changes coming ahead of the show's 51st season, which premieres Oct. 4, USA Today reports.