The forty-eighth season of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on October 1, 2022, during the 2022–23 television season with host Miles Teller and musical guest Kendrick Lamar,^[1][2] and concluded on April 15, 2023, with host Ana de Armas and musical guest Karol G. The season was originally scheduled to air 21 episodes and conclude on May 20, 2023.^[3] However, due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, the last three planned episodes were cancelled.^[4]

Eight cast members from season 47 left the show prior to the beginning of this season, making it the biggest cast exodus since 1995. The departures of longtime cast members Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, and Kyle Mooney were announced at the time of the season 47 finale, and in September 2022, several weeks prior to the start of this season, the departures of Alex Moffat, Chris Redd, Melissa Villaseñor, and featured player Aristotle Athari were announced.^[5][6][7] In response to all these changes, executive producer Lorne Michaels called this season a "transition year".

Returning cast member Cecily Strong took a temporary leave of absence early in the season due to her commitments to perform in the Los Angeles revival of the one-woman stage play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, returning to SNL for the October 29, 2022, episode.^[8] Strong then departed several weeks later on December 17 after being on the show for eleven seasons since 2012, making her the longest-tenured female cast member in the show's history.^[9]

On September 12, 2022, Michaels announced that four new cast members would be joining the show:^[10] stand-up comedians Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney (the show's first non-binary cast member^[11]), Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker.

Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson, who were both hired as featured players for season 46, were promoted to repertory status this season, while James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman, both of whom were hired for season 47, remained as featured players.

This season saw the death of longtime production designer Eugene Lee, who died on February 6, 2023, and had worked on the show since the show's premiere on October 11, 1975,^[12] with the exception of seasons 6–10 (1980–1985).^[13]

Before this season started, Colin Jost and Michael Che (who had been head writers since 2017), resigned from their positions, but still continued to write for this season. Also, Jimmy Fowlie, Ceara O'Sullivan, Auguste White, and KC Shornima were all hired as new writers (with Shornima specifically writing for Weekend Update).^[14] Asha Ward joined the writing staff starting with the December 3, 2022 episode.^[15]

As of the February 4, 2023 episode, regular writers Gary Richardson (who returned to the show this season after a one-year hiatus from season 47), Will Stephen, and Celeste Yim were promoted to writing supervisors.^[16]