Bowen Yang on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update / NBC
Bowen Yang will reportedly leave the cast of Saturday Night Live this weekend after an episode hosted by his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande.
The episode – the final of 2025 – will also feature Cher as a musical guest, while Grande is making her fifth appearance as host of the iconic show.
Yang joined SNL in 2018, initially as a writer, before becoming as a featured player the following year and then joining the main cast in 2021.
Referencing SNL creator Lorne Michaels, 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.”
SNL airs Saturday at 11.30pm on NBC in the US and Sunday at 9pm on Sky Comedy in the UK and Ireland.
