Bowen Yang is finally speaking out after the shock announcement that he’s leaving Saturday Night Live.

The 35-year-old comedian’s departure comes in the wake of a chaotic 'bloodbath' that saw multiple cast members exit the NBC sketch comedy show without warning ahead of the 2025 season. 

Yang, 31, will make his final appearance this Saturday, on the episode hosted by his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande with Cher as the musical guest.

The morning after the news broke on Friday, Bowen took to Instagram to confirm his exit and share a heartfelt farewell with the SNL family.

'I loved working at SNL, and most of all I loved the people,' Bowen began. 'I was there at a time when many things in the world started to seem futile, but working at 30 Rock taught me the value in showing up anyway when people make it worthwhile.'

'I’m grateful for every minute of my time there,' he continued. 'I learned about myself (bad with wigs). 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 added a long list of personal thank-yous: 'Thank you to every single person who showed up there: friends and coworkers and audiences and hosts. Thank you Celeste, Sudi, Will, Alison, Julio, Fran, Drez, Bulla, Marty, John, Ben, Jimmy, Ceara, Deetch, Jake, Asha, Jack, Auguste, Tucker, Kent, Streeter, James, Alex, Jasmine, Gary, and Billy for writing with me. 

'Thank you to every cast member for making me laugh and cry. To Liz and Don. Tom, Jodi, Louie, Eamon. Gena, Chris, Eddie. The crews, the pages. And to Audrey, Jameson, Cassandra and Chris for the fastest, funnest quick-changes in all of showbiz. 

'Thank you to Ari for sending me off in the dreamiest way I could imagine.'

'Thank you to Lorne for the job. For the standard. And for bringing everyone at work together. They all care deeply about people in the room, any room, enjoying themselves. I can’t believe I was ever included in that. The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready, but s-iiiiit, I hope I am.'

Yang joined SNL as a writer in 2018 before being promoted to the cast for Season 45. 

He earned repertory status ahead of Season 47, quickly becoming one of the show’s standout performers over seven seasons.

His departure follows a summer exodus after Season 50, which saw Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Emil Wakim all leave the cast.

Yang also becomes the latest midseason exit, following Cecily Strong’s surprise December 2022 departure during Season 48.

Molly Shannon, Dana Carvey and Eddie Murphy also left midseason. 

Though his exit comes after the cast turbulence, it’s not entirely unexpected. 

Yang has teased the possibility of leaving SNL over the past few months, leaving fans bracing for one final set of sketches from the beloved comedian. 

Back in September, Yang revealed he had a heart-to-heart with SNL creator Lorne Michaels about his future on the show.

'Lorne was like, ‘You have more to do,’ and that means a lot, because I even confessed to him… ‘I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me,’" Yang recalled to People. 'And he was like, "That’s not true. There’s more for you to do. I need you."'

A source told the Daily Mail:' Bowen was actually going to leave much earlier and almost didn't do this season at all, but with all the attention that all the moves SNL did got, Lorne asked Bowen to stay on a little longer and Bowen obliged. 

'Bowen is ready to do his own shows and more movies and more TV outside of SNL. And with Wicked's success, now was the time to hit the ground running. Bowen hates the word bittersweet, but the whole situation is bittersweet and he is looking forward to this weekend being his swan song.'

Despite that reassurance, Yang has already missed several episodes this season. 

He notably skipped an October show to attend the Academy Museum gala in Los Angeles, where he accepted the Vantage Award.

During his tenure, Yang earned critical acclaim, scoring Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025.

Outside of SNL, Yang is a major force in pop culture thanks to his hit podcast Las Culturistas, which he co-hosts with longtime friend and fellow comedian Matt Rogers.

He also starred on Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens from 2020 to 2023.

His résumé continues to grow on the big screen as well. 

In addition to Wicked and Wicked: For Good, Yang’s film credits include Fire Island (2022), Dicks: The Musical (2023), and the The Wedding Banquet (2025). 

Yang’s departure comes in the wake of the cast overhaul that wrapped up over the summer.

'Lorne doesn’t have many more years he wants to do SNL,' an insider exclusively told Daily Mail at the time. 'He wants to make it funny again.'

Fans were quick to react when Gardner — a beloved cast member of eight years — was let go, following the departures of Longfellow, Wakim, Devon Walker. 

Nwodim’s exit announcement, meanwhile, came just days after NBC appeared to finalize the cast list for the upcoming season, with her name still included.

The current lineup features longtime favorite Kenan Thompson, Chloe Fineman, Mikey Day, and Weekend Update anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost, alongside Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Sarah Sherman, Ashley Padilla, and Jane Wickline.

New faces joining the cast this season include Veronika Slowikowska, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, and Kam Patterson.

Meanwhile, the Please Don’t Destroy trio no longer appear onscreen together. 

Writer and occasional performer John Higgins has exited the show completely.

Ben Marshall has stepped out of the writers’ room to join the cast as a featured player, and Martin Herlihy remains on staff as a writer. 

The recent cast changes are said to partly be tied to plans for an SNL UK spinoff in 2026, with Lorne intent on keeping the original series as the benchmark for sketch comedy.

'So these changes for Lorne are to see if he's still got it,' an insider told the Daily Mail. 'And to make sure that SNL is funny and groundbreaking for years to come.'

The source added that he 'needs to add some gasoline to the fire, and even though there will still be familiar names, he wants to mix it up and bring in a brand-new set of cast members, because that adds to the fun of it all'.

While the process may feel cutthroat, the insider emphasized that upheavals like this are normal at SNL - though they haven't happened on this scale in some time.

'Lorne felt that he and the show had been on autopilot for a few years, and it is now time to be very funny again.'

He is said to want the series to take more risks and bring back some 'grit'.