Heidi Gardner has landed another role since her surprise exit from Saturday Night Live this summer, and this one marks the comedian’s first movie role since her departure from the NBC comedy series.

Entertainment Weekly can confirm that Gardner has been cast in Scary Movies 6, the revival kick-started by the franchise’s original creators, the Wayans Brothers. Gardner will be joined by Damon Wayans Jr. (New Girl), Kim Wayans (In Living Color), as well as her fellow SNL alum Cheri Oteri and Chris Elliott.

Gardner’s surprising exit from SNL was announced in August, ahead of the show’s 51st season, which began Oct. 4. She starred on the NBC sketch series for eight seasons. 

A rep for Gardner told EW that the Shrinking star is “really excited” to work with the Scary Movie 6 team.

Heidi Gardner; Cheri Oteri.

TheStewartofNY/WireImage; Derek White/Getty

Details on the franchise newcomers’ characters are being kept under wraps, but for Oteri and Elliott, there is the possibility the duo may reprise their roles from previous Scary Movie entries.

Oteri appeared in the first Scary Movie in 2000 as Gail Hailstorm, a sensationalist television reporter parodying Courteney Cox‘s Scream character Gale Weathers. Since her character was still alive at the end of the film, there’s a good chance the actress will pick the role back up for the sixth film, just like Cox reprises her role as Gale for the upcoming Scream 7.

Elliott made two appearances in the film franchise: first he played Hanson, the creepy haunted mansion caretaker in 2001’s Scary Movie 2. He then appeared in 2006’s Scary Movie 4 as Ezekiel, a village loon, a completely different character. Considering the nature of the Scary Movie films, the possibilities for either star are endless.

Cheri Oteri in ‘Scary Movie’.

Dimension Films

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The newly announced stars join other franchise vets Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Regina Hall, Anna Faris, Lochlyn Monroe, Dave Sheridan, and Jon Abrahams. Other newcomers in the cast include Olivia Rose Keegan, Savannah Lee Nassif, Cameron Scott Roberts, Sydney Park, Gregg Wayans, Ruby Snowber, and Benny Zielke.

Marlon and Shawn have also returned to write the script alongside their other brother Keenen Ivory Wayans and longtime collaborator Rick Alvarez, who is also producing. Michael Tiddes is directing the project.

The sixth installment marks the first time the Wayans brothers are reuniting in 18 years to write an original script, which Paramount previously said will be “the restart of the franchise.”

Marlon previously listed I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, Heretic, Longlegs, Get Out, Nope, and Sinners as horror movies ripe for the film to parody. When chatting with EW in September, ahead of the release of horror movie Him, the comedian shared a bit about how the brothers plan to poke fun at these films in the age of elevated horror.

Jon Abrahams, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans in ‘Scary Movie’.

Andrew MacPherson

“I think you have to acknowledge how comedy has changed. Not just horror has changed, but films have changed, the audience has changed, the world has shifted,” he explained. “I think the way to do that is to make the generational gap part of the conversation. That’s how we constructed the movie so we could talk about it all. It’s a conversation with these funny characters, and they just so happen to be going through this. The more pressure you put on characters and the more horrific the situations, that’s when you really get to know the characters.”

He promised that the movie will be “no holds barred and equal opportunity offenders.”

Scary Movie is currently slated to hit theaters on June 12, 2026.