“Saturday Night Live“ has celebrated its landmark 50th anniversary. The resulting special featured a lot of guest appearances from performers past, and many predicted a shift going into Season 51. They weren’t wrong. This year has seen the largest cast exodus since 2022 when we said goodbye to heavyweight performers like Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryan, and Kyle Mooney. We thought the cast departures were done for 2025 into 2026, but Bowen Yang has proven us wrong.
Yang’s departure echoes that of Cecily Strong in 2022. Her leaving came as a surprise to viewers when she announced it during the Christmas episode of that year. Yang is effectively doing the same thing three years later. The December 20th, 2025 show will be his last as a regular “SNL“ cast member. Yang joined in 2018 as a writer, and was bumped to a performer the next year. Since then, and especially in the most recent years, he’s been a stalwart presence on the program. But he’s also been branching out more into commercials, television, and film.
“I’m grateful for every minute of my time there. I learned about myself (bad with wigs),” Yang said in a heartfelt post to Instagram. “I learned about others (generous, vulnerable, hot). I learned that human error can be nothing but correct. I learned that comedy is mostly logistics and that it will usually fail until it doesn’t, which is the besssst.”
He also gave his thanks to Lorne Michaels and his coworkers for his time at 30 Rock.
Yang’s voice was as distinctly comedic as it was diverse. Both Asians and members of the LGBTQ community have not been seen in front of the camera on “SNL.” Yang gave some much needed representation to both groups, making his presence sorely missed in multiple ways. Fortunately, his career is taking off in other avenues, as his appearances in “Wicked,” it’s sequel, and more.
We wish Bowen well as he takes the next steps in his career; all good things at “SNL” must come to an end. Well, unless you’re Kenan Thompson. You can catch the episode tonight at 11:29pm (EST).
