After the shocking Saturday Night Live 'bloodbath' that saw several cast members exiting without warning ahead of the 2025 season, another fan favorite is now stepping away. Bowen Yang will make his final appearance on Saturday’s episode, hosted by his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande with Cher as musical guest. Daily Mail has reached out to Yang and SNL representatives but has not received a response. Yang, 31, 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."'

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'.