Ego Nwodim’s name is going to appear a little sooner in the Saturday Night Live opening credits for season 46. Following a report from Deadline, a representative for SNL has confirmed to Vulture that Nwodim has been promoted from featured to repertory player ahead of the upcoming season of the NBC series, which is typically done when featured players enter their third year on the show.
Nwodim was hired to the SNL cast before the start of season 44 in September 2018 and is the only cast member entering her third year on the show next season. (Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman were added as featured players in 2019.) NBC has not yet announced a premiere date for season 46, but according to a report by Variety in July, the show has been looking for ways to return to Studio 8H in 30 Rock rather than continue the remotely produce quarantine episodes it was forced to pivot to during the final stretch of season 45.
NBC’s other late-night shows are also jumping back to their studios, albeit with socially distanced restrictions in place: Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show returned to the studio in July, while Seth Meyers’s Late Night will move back to 30 Rock when it returns from hiatus tonight. It’s unclear yet whether or not Meyers’s long, luscious locks will also be returning, but we digress.