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Bowen Yang is set to leave Saturday Night Live after seven years at the sketch show.
The comedian, 35, joined as a writer in 2018 before being promoted to the cast the following year.
Variety reports that he is expected to leave midseason, following this weekend’s episode hosted by his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande. Cher will be the musical guest.
The Independent has reached out to Yang’s representatives for comment.
Yang, who hosts the Las Culturistas podcast with Matt Rogers, has worked outside of Saturday Night Live in recent years.
As well as appearing in Wicked and this year’s sequel Wicked: For Good, Yang also starred in romantic comedy The Wedding Banquet. He is set for a voice role in next year’s animated adaptation of The Cat In The Hat.
Bowen Yang, who is leaving ‘Saturday Night Live’ after this weekend’s show, attending the Emmys in 2024 (Getty Images)
Yang’s departure from SNL coming midway through a season is unusual but not unprecedented, with the likes of Cecily Strong, Molly Shannon, Dana Carvey and Eddie Murphy also leaving midseason in past years.
In an interview with People in September, Yang said he felt he had “more to do” at the show but also worried the audience was “getting sick” of him.
“I’ve always gone by the instinct of, do I have more to do? And I feel like I do,” he said of his decision to stay with the cast at the time.
“Even Lorne and I talked about it, and Lorne was like, ‘You have more to do,’ and that means a lot, because I even confessed to him. I was like, ‘I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me.’ And he was like, ‘That’s not true. There’s more for you to do. I need you.’”
His exit comes after SNL boss Lorne Michaels made significant changes to the cast before the season began.
Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow all left the show before the 51st season premiered on October 4.
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New additions to the cast included Ben Marshall, Veronika Slowikowska, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane and Kam Patterson.
Michaels, 80, said he wanted to “shake things up” following the show’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
“I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season],” he said.
“So when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it. And that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions [to the cast], or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season]. And we had an election,” he added.
Asked whether he felt “pressured to reinvent this season,” Michaels said that he does.
