2013–2017: Formation and debuts of Red Velvet and NCT SM Entertainment formally announced the creation of SM Rookies on December 3, 2013, featuring members
Seulgi,
Jeno and
Taeyong. On December 9,
Irene,
Jaehyun and Lami were introduced. On December 16, members
Mark, Hansol, and
Jisung were introduced, followed by Johnny,
Ten and
Yuta on December 23. In January 2014, SM Rookies opened their official Twitter account.
Wendy was introduced on March 13, 2014, with the song "Because Of You", recorded for the soundtrack of the
SM C&C-produced series
Mimi. On March 19, 2014, a video of Wendy singing "
Speak Now" by
Taylor Swift was released. In April, SM Entertainment launched the official website of the SM Rookies project, which they announced with a video teaser uploaded onto their official YouTube channel, featuring Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Taeyong, Jaehyun, and Mark. Seulgi later featured on labelmate Henry's song "Butterfly". On July 17, a performance video of Irene and Seulgi dancing to the song "Be Natural" by
S.E.S. was released, credited to SR14G. Member
Donghyuck was later introduced on July 17, 2014. On July 21, Taeyong released a track video for the song "Open The Door". On July 22, Mark and Donghyuck were featured in the first video of the
Rookie Station project. Later that month, the agency confirmed Irene, Seulgi, and Wendy as members of the group
Red Velvet. On August 14, SM Rookies member
Yeri was featured in the third video of
Rookie Station alongside Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Mark, Jeno and Donghyuck. On August 21, the fourth video of the
Rookies Station series was released. On August 24, a video of Johnny, Taeyong and Hansol dancing to the song "Super Moon" was released, credited to SR14B. On September 16, the sixth video of the
Rookie Station was released, featuring members Johnny, Yuta, Ten, and Jaehyun. On October 9, Taeyong was featured in Red Velvet's single "Be Natural". On January 16, 2015, member Doyoung was introduced as he and Jaehyun were to become the new MCs of MBC Music's
Show Champion. On February 19, 2015, Johnny, Yuta, Ten, and Lami released their Lunar New Year greetings. In February, a report of Red Velvet filming a music video with trainee Yeri leaked online. The following month, SM Entertainment formally introduced Yeri as the fifth member of Red Velvet. On March 6, a clip of Hansol, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Ten, and Jaehyun (as SR15B) dancing to the song "Bassbot" was released. After months of being featured in various SM Rookies events,
Jaemin was formally introduced in April. In June, Ten and Jaehyun competed in the Hope Basketball All-Star event. Later that month, SM Rookies were featured in News 'Korean Pop Idols Rule Asia' featuring Mark giving a short talk. On July 9, 2015, members Koeun, Hina, and Herin were introduced as they were to become "Mouseketeers" on
Disney Channel Korea's
The Mickey Mouse Club alongside Mark, Jeno, Donghyuck, Jaemin, Jisung, and Lami. On July 26, SM Entertainment announced a concert for the team's male members, titled SM Rookies Show. On July 30, a video of Hansol, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Ten, and Jaehyun (as SR15B) performing a dance routine was released. On October 13, 2015,
Taeil was introduced after being featured in multiple SM Rookies events. In November, female members of SM Rookies performed a dance performance in the video "Rookies Entertainment App Launching". On December 18, Kun was formally introduced. On December 22, Lami, Hina, and fellow trainee
Park Jungyeon appeared in video teasers for
Winter Garden 2015. On January 5, 2016, WinWin was introduced. On January 26, Taeil released the song "Because Of You" for the soundtrack of the series
The Merchant: Gaekju 2015. SM Entertainment founder
Lee Soo-man announced a concept for a new boy band, to be called NCT, in which different teams would debut based in different countries around the world. In April 2016, the agency announced Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun and Mark as members of
NCT's first sub-unit, NCT U. In July, the agency also confirmed Yuta, WinWin and Donghyuck (now known by his stage name Haechan) as members of NCT's second sub-unit,
NCT 127. In August, the agency confirmed Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung as members of NCT's third sub-unit,
NCT Dream, alongside Mark and Haechan. On September 19, Yiyang and
Ningning were introduced followed by their appearances on the online reality show
My SMT. In December, the agency confirmed Johnny as a new member of NCT 127. On April 5, 2017,
Lucas was introduced, followed by Jungwoo on April 17. Jungwoo and Koeun made appearances in the music video of
Super Junior member
Yesung's single "
Paper Umbrella" later that month. After an almost one-year absence, member Kun appeared with Lucas and Jungwoo for the opening of SM Rookies' Instagram account. In late June, Herin was confirmed as a contestant of
Mnet's survival show
Idol School, leading to her departure from the team and SM Entertainment. Hansol followed in October, participating as a contestant in the
KBS survival show
The Unit.
2018: New NCT members and debut of WayV In January 2018, NCT unveiled a "large scale project" called NCT 2018, and some members of SM Rookies were seen in Ukraine filming a music video for a possible comeback. Members Jungwoo and Lucas were spotted alongside other NCT members in the airport en route to Ukraine. On February 14, NCT U released the single "Boss", recorded by Lucas and Jungwoo alongside members Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, and Mark. On July 17, three male Chinese trainees, Hendery, Xiaojun, and Yangyang, were introduced. On October 1, Yiyang confirmed she had left SM Entertainment and returned to China to join the idol competition show
The Next Top Bang. On December 31, SM Entertainment announced the debut of Hendery, Xiaojun and Yangyang as members of NCT's Chinese sub-unit,
WayV.
2020: Formation of Aespa On October 26, SM Entertainment announced the formation of their new girl group,
Aespa. On October 29,
Ningning was introduced as the third member of the group, which debuted on November 17.
2022–2025: Lami's debut, Formation of Riize and NCT Wish On July 1, 2022, SM Entertainment introduced three new male trainees: Eunseok, Shohei, and
Seunghan. In November 2022, it was announced they would star in the reality show
Welcome to NCT Universe. On December 9, 2022, SM Entertainment confirmed that Lami would debut as an actress, making her return to the agency after leaving in 2020. She would be the last member of the original SM Rookies lineup, introduced in 2013, to debut. In May 2023, she appeared on the
ENA television series
Oh! Youngsim. In 2023, Hina signed with Japanese modelling agency Trapeziste, hence it is assumed that she has departed from SM. On May 24, 2023, SM announced that Eunseok and Seunghan would no longer debut in NCT's new unit and instead debut as members of the company's upcoming boy band. Shohei was not added to the lineup due to personal health reasons, with the company planning to support his individual activities in the future. On May 31, 2023, Eunseok and Seunghan announced they had graduated from the team through handwritten letters posted on the SM Rookies's
Instagram. On July 31, 2023, SM confirmed the name of the boy band,
Riize, which debuted on September 4. On June 28, 2023, SM Entertainment released a teaser video introducing two new male trainees, Yushi and Sion. It was later confirmed that they would debut with NCT's new six-member sub-unit and would appear on the reality show
NCT Universe: Lastart, dedicated to selecting the remaining four members out of ten trainees. On September 27, Yushi and Sion announced they had graduated from the team through handwritten letters posted on the SM Rookies's
Instagram. In September 2024, Shohei was announced as a member of SM's upcoming
trot boy band,
Mytro. The trot boy band debut was canceled without announcement and Shohei continue his solo activities under SM Japan. In November 2025, Shohei later transferred to SM's sub label
SM C&C. ==Members==