Who Are the Regular Cast Members on 'Saturday Night Live'? Difference Between Main and Featured Cast Members Explained

Saturday Night Live just added two fan favorites to its main cast. Chris Redd and Heidi Gardner will return to SNL for Season 45 with an upgraded title from featured players to repertory players.

The comedians joined SNL back in 2017, along with Chicago native Luke Null, who departed from the NBC sketch comedy show after one season. Redd, who is from St. Louis, and Kansas City-born Gardner have become popular for their hilarious skits and contributions to the show. Gardner has brought her humor to several "Weekend Update" segments with notable characters like teen film critic Bailey Gismert, Angel and Every Boxer's Girlfriend From Every Movie About Boxing. Meanwhile, Redd made waves with his spot-on impersonations of Kanye West, Senator Cory Booker, Katt Williams and This Is Us lead Sterling K. Brown.

Redd and Gardner's promotion means their names will appear in the opening credits with SNL's main cast members as opposed to the end of the show's opening. Typically, newcomers to SNL spend about two seasons as featured players before graduating to repertory status.

The title change also bumps SNL's troupe of regular cast members up to 14, despite recently losing Leslie Jones, who exited the weekend series after appearing on SNL for five seasons.

Along with newly appointed regular cast members Redd and Gardner, SNL's main ensemble includes Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Beck Bennett, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Cecily Strong, Melissa Villaseñor and "Weekend Update" anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost. Ego Nwodim, who joined SNL last season, will return as a featured player along with newcomers Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang.

SNL declined to comment.

SNL announced the additions of Fineman and Yang in early September, along with comedian Shane Gills, who was fired from the cast just days later. Racial slurs Gills used in an episode of his popular podcast, Shane's Secret Podcast, surfaced online immediately following SNL's cast announcement. SNL admitted to not thoroughly vetting Gills before hiring him and ultimately decided to remove him as a featured player.

"After talking with Shane Gills, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL," a show representative said in a statement. "We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for SNL. We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard."

Saturday Night Live returns to NBC with Season 45 on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET.