If you’ve watched Saturday Night Live even infrequently during Season 51, you’ve no doubt noticed a certain second year cast member has been in a lot of sketches. Ashley Padilla has emerged as the biggest star amongst the newer additions, and you could probably take it a step further and say she’s turning into one of the biggest stars of the entire cast. So, why is she still just a featured player and not a full repertory player?
That’s the question a lot of SNL fans have been asking themselves throughout this season. She’s gotten more screentime than any other cast members, and it hasn’t just been as a key support in sketches. She’s often the lead or co-lead in whatever she’s doing. It’s clear she’s earned the trust of the writers who are starting to build concepts around her. So, once again, why is she still considered a lesser or secondary cast member?
The answer actually has less to do with how Lorne Michaels and the producers view her and more to do with the contracts and the structure of the show. Every new cast member is credited as a featured player during their first two seasons on the show. Then, if they are brought back for a third season, they are automatically upgraded to a repertory player from that point forward.
There have been about a dozen instances in the show’s history in which a cast member was upgraded before their third season. Notable examples include Eddie Murphy, Chris Farley and Bill Hader. Those cases are extremely rare though, given there have been more than 170 cast members during the show’s 51 season run.
According to Gold Derby, the last two cast members to get upgraded early were Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong, which happened all the way back in Season 39. Bowen Yang is the most recent cast member before Padilla to have a strong case. He was actually nominated for an Emmy while he was still a featured player, but he too had to wait for his third year to get updated billing, which I’m sure comes with some increased perks.
Regardless of how she’s billed, Ashley Padilla clearly has a huge future at Studio 8H. She’s got that Phil Hartman every man quality about her where she can play normal people in sketches, but she can also be loudier and showier when the material calls for it. That dynamic allows her to get written into a lot of things but also be the star of the weirder and wackier bits that are often reserved for the more eccentric cast members. That combination is always going to lead to a high volume of screentime.
Perhaps the only thing that can stop Padilla’s ascent at SNL at this point is Hollywood. She hasn’t done a lot of work outside the show, but as her reputation grows, she’s going to start getting more and more calls. I’m not saying she’s a threat to leave anytime soon, especially considering how much she seems to like working on the show, but it’ll be interesting to see how many things she starts saying yes to outside the show.
You can see Padilla return to 30 Rock this week for an all-new episode featuring next upcoming host Harry Styles. Expect her to make more than a few appearances.
