SHOCK MOVE

‘SNL’s’ Biggest Star to Exit Cast Mid-Season

Bowen Yang’s last episode will be hosted by his “Wicked” co-star, Ariana Grande.

Bowen Yang is leaving SNL.

Yang, 35, becomes one of a rare group of SNL alums who left the series mid-season, including Cecily Strong, Molly Shannon, Dana Carvey, and Eddie Murphy.

The reason for the exit is unknown as of Friday afternoon, and Yang himself has yet to comment.

He joined the show as a writer in 2018 and joined the cast the following year.

Yang’s departure comes on the heels of boss Lorne Michaels’ major shakeup ahead of Season 51, which included the axings of Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and John Higgins. Ego Nwodim also left the cast, but on her own accord.

The Daily Beast has reached out to reps for Yang for comment.

Yang previously addressed why he decided to stay even though so many of his buddies were leaving the show. “I’ve always gone by the instinct of: Do I have more to do? And I feel like I do,” he told People in September. “Even Lorne and I talked about it. 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.’” He added, “I have to honor that.”

“That man has changed my life, and I owe a lot of my life to that show. And I love working there, the people are the best. I really love each of them so much.” And while that may be true, Yang seems to have had a change of heart about sticking around.

Other changes to the show since its 50th anniversary included five new featured players—Ben Marshall (previously a writer as a member of comedy troupe “Please Don’t Destroy”), Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska—many of whom have hefty social media followings, as Michaels tries to keep the show in step with Gen Z. Patterson, a protege of MAGA comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, also seemed to confirm Michaels’ determination to bring more conservative eyeballs to the show.

“Our audience always stayed relatively young, and more so now with TikTok. Change is good, and the people we’re bringing in, I’m really excited about,” Michaels said on the Emmys red carpet in September. “It’s always hard when people leave, but there’s a time for that.” Michaels has also not yet commented on Yang’s exit news.

Yang’s work on SNL earned him Emmy nods for Best Supporting Comedy Actor in 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025.

In addition to his award-winning podcast Las Culturistas, Yang has also branched out from SNL in recent years into films—last appearing in Wicked: For Good alongside this weekend’s SNL host, Ariana Grande.

He also appeared in The Wedding Banquet earlier this year, and has voiced several animated characters, including in The Garfield Movie, Monsters at Work, and more. His next voice character will be in The Cat in the Hat, according to IMDb.

Eboni Boykin-PattersonEntertainment Reporter

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