Bowen Yang to Exit ‘Saturday Night Live’ After 7 Seasons

Bowen Yang is set to exit Saturday Night Live after this weekend’s show after seven seasons, according to multiple reports. The episode is set to be hosted by his Wicked co-star and close friend Ariana Grande, with Cher serving as the musical guest.

It’ll be a perfect sendoff for Yang, who starred as Glinda’s (Grande) assistant Pfannee in the Wicked films. It’ll also feature Cher as a musical guest, which he has long said is his dream guest on Saturday Night Live.

A rep for SNL did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.

“I would do anything with her,” the five-time Emmy nominee told E! during the Emmy Awards back in 2022. The actor later told Kelly Clarkson in 2024, “My white whale has always been Cher… You and Cher together would blow my mind.”

Yang first joined SNL as a writer in 2018 for Season 44, became a featured player in Season 45, and was promoted to the main cast in Season 47.

Yang is already tied to a new endeavor alongside his Las Culturistas co-host Matt Rogers. The pair is set to co-write and co-star in a new comedy film for Searchlight, according to Deadline. The film is inspired by “Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain?”, an episode of the podcast Search Engine, about two Americans who fly across an ocean to try to get into the most exclusive nightclub in the world.

Yang is also set to voice a character opposite Bill Hader in a new version of The Cat in the Hat.

There were numerous high-profile exits ahead of Season 51 this year after  SNL creator Lorne Michaels he was going to “shake things up.” Ego Nwodim, John Higgins, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Rosebud Baker and Emil Wakim were among the star comedians to leave the show before the latest season.