Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney are reportedly leaving Saturday Night Live once the season ends. The long-running NBC sketch comedy series, which was created by Lorne Michaels in 1975 and is currently airing season 47, is known to have a constantly shifting cast that has included comedy giants like Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Eddie Murphy, and Gilda Radner. The series currently features many veterans who have been on the show for years like Kenan Thompson, the longest-tenured cast member in history at 19 seasons.
Comedy fans who have kept up with the series have been expecting that this cast is due for a major shakeup, as the only main cast member to have left between the previous and current season was Beck Bennett. Yesterday, right on cue, it was reported that Pete Davidson would be leaving SNL at the end of this season, which is airing its finale (hosted by Russian Doll star Natasha Lyonne) on May 21. Davidson, who is a lightning rod for media attention because of his high profile relationships with celebrities including Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian, is likely leaving to focus on the autobiographical comedy series he is developing with Peacock.
Per Deadline, it seems that Davidson will be joined in his departure by three other tenured cast members: McKinnon, Bryant, and Mooney. There have long been rumors that Kate McKinnon, who has made a splash with roles in other projects like Joe vs. Carole, Ghostbusters, and Rough Night, would be leaving the series, and it looks like they have finally come to fruition. McKinnon has been on the series for 11 seasons, which makes her tied with Fred Armisen for the fourth-longest running cast member on the series, followed by Bryant, whose 10 seasons put her in the same league as SNL giants Al Franken, Tim Meadows, and Schmigadoon star Cecily Strong, who at this time is still part of the main cast of the series.
McKinnon has been the breakout star of the series for over half a decade, so she will likely have no problem finding future projects after exiting the series. Indeed, she is currently on set shooting Greta Gerwig's buzzy Barbie movie opposite Margot Robbie. Bryant, who starred in the Hulu series Shrill for all three seasons, has also been featured as the de facto lead of Netflix's animated Big Mouth spinoff Human Resources, which premiered earlier this year. While Mooney has no future projects that have already been announced, he will likely find his niche in the same indie comedy sphere as his previous projects including the 2017 feature Brigsby Bear.
While all four cast members will certainly be missed, Saturday Night Live still has a strong ensemble backing it up. Unless more cast exits are announced following the finale, the ensemble still features stars like Thompson, Strong, Bowen Yang, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Melissa Villaseñor, and long-running Weekend Update co-hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che. This departure may allow other cast members to step into the spotlight and redefine the comic sensibility of the show in a fun and interesting way.
Source: Deadline