Kate McKinnon won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in this season.

The entire cast of the previous season returned, with Beck Bennett, Colin Jost, Kyle Mooney and Sasheer Zamata being promoted to repertory status, while Michael Che, Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones remained featured players.

[2] Prior to the start of the season, comedian Jon Rudnitsky of the Groundlings joined the show as a featured player.

bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor Before the beginning of the season, six new writers joined the staff: Upright Citizens Brigade performers Fran Gillespie, Sudi Green, and Will Stephen; former Late Show with David Letterman writers Paul Masella and Chris Belair; and stand-up comedian Dave Sirus.

Rob Klein and Bryan Tucker continued as co-head writers.