Saturday Night Live alum Heidi Gardner reacted strongly to the idea of returning to the show that abruptly fired her.
After eight seasons, Gardner, 42, was let go from the show in 2025 amid a massive sweep of exits before SNL‘s 51st season. The tenured alum still holds the show in high regard, despite her unceremonious departure.
“Oh my gosh, I’m always open to those things!” Gardner told Entertainment Weekly when asked about the possibility of returning for a cameo or guest appearance.
For months after Gardner’s exit, the circumstances of her abrupt departure were unclear. Despite the sweep of layoffs, Gardner’s exit was the most shocking of the bunch, considering her extended fan-favorite tenure.
In a February conversation, Gardner admitted that getting sketches cut from the show was always difficult.
“The majority of what you do, too, there, I think, for me,” she told comedian Mike Birbiglia. “I mean, I like, I ended up getting cut, so I feel like, more than anyone in the world.”
Along with the numerous layoffs, longtime cast members Ego Nwodim and Bowen Yang also departed the show of their own volition.
Gardner said she valued her friendship with Nwodim, 38, as much as her time on the show.
“That was one of the coolest things that I got to do—be on SNL, and I got a best friend too. It’s like, what?" she told EW on Tuesday.
“I guess I didn’t expect to get such a best friend in Ego. I know she and I were doing the same job, so we understand each other in a different way than you do with your other friends,” she continued. ”I definitely want to work with Ego for the rest of my life."
The pair broke down in tears when discussing their departure on Nwodim’s podcast, Thanks Dad, in October.
“I am so honored that we worked so hard there,” Gardner said at the time. “We’re humans, so we have egos, we want things for ourselves, we want to succeed, and there weren’t a lot of times when we were able to succeed in the way we wanted at the exact same time.”
“The sketches, they come, they go, they’re really fun. They can be hard, they can be things you’re not into, whatever,” Nwodim replied.
“If you can leave—in a place where it can get so competitive and you can become so self involved, if you can leave and be still remarkably lovely and such a light and still pouring into other people like you, I think you succeeded,” she continued.
Since leaving the show, Gardner has filled out her IMDb page after nearly a decade focused on SNL. She stars in the upcoming Scary Movie sequel, and the NBC sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, alongside fellow SNL alums Tracy Morgan and Bobby Moynihan.
