Bowen Yang is about to end his run on Saturday Night Live.
According to People Magazine insiders, the comedian will depart this sketch comedy show after making one final appearance on the December 20 edition of the series.
This episode will be hosted by Yang’s good friend and Wicked co-star Ariana Grande.
Neither Yang himself nor anyone associated with the funny star has confirmed this exit. But People is reporting on it as though it’s a done deal.
A five-time Emmy nominee, Yang became SNL’s first Chinese American cast member when he joined in 2019… and also one of its first openly gay stars.
As his career took off, some believed Yang would leave the program before it even started Season 51 back in September.
“I’ve always gone by the instinct of, do I have more to do? And I feel like I do,” he told People in the fall.
“Even [creator] Lorne [Michaels] and I talked about it, and Lorne was like, ‘You have more to do,’ and that means a lot, because I even confessed to him. I was like, ‘I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me.’ And he was like, ‘That’s not true. There’s more for you to do. I need you.’”
Previously, Yang described the Saturday Night Live as “this growing, living thing where new people come in and you do have to sort of make way for them and to grow and to keep elevating themselves.”
He’s always made it clear that he wasn’t gonna stick around forever.
Yang remains grateful to Michaels for the opportunity and, we assume, will focus going forward on his big screen career.
“I owe a lot of my life to that show,” Yang has said. “And I love working there, the people are the best. I really love each of them so much.”