(Original season 48 cast, Photo: Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC)

Saturday Night Live has its return date. Season 49 of the variety show will premiere on October 14th. Former cast member Pete Davidson will host the premiere, with Ice Spice as the musical guest just weeks after her Best New Artist win at the 2023 Video Music Awards. Bad Bunny will host and serve as the musical guest the following week, on October 21st.

The cast of the NBC series will remain the same save for adding one new featured player, Chloe Troast. She joins returning cast members Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Sarah Sherman, and Devon Walker on the series.

Deadline revealed the following about the new arrival:

Troast, who we hear came close to landing a performer slot last year, is perhaps best known for or co-writing and starring in the popular webseries The Basics. The New Jersey native was recently named to Just For Laughs’ New Faces of Comedy Class of 2023 and will also soon be seen starring opposite Kiernan Shipka in the college rom-com Sweethearts, which is produced by New Line for Max. She is currently working on Adult Swim Smalls series Good Service.

Check out the official announcements for Saturday Night Live season 49 below.

Welcome to the cast, Chloe Troast! pic.twitter.com/3KlRvgQWAe

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 4, 2023

Season 49 starts next week!!! pic.twitter.com/4YJgVumluS

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) October 4, 2023

What do you think? Are you excited about the return of new episodes of this late-night variety series to NBC?