Saturday Night Live: Melissa Villasenor Breaks Silence on Exit

By Jamie Jirak

When the 47th season of Saturday Night Live came to an end in May, the sketch series said goodbye to longtime cast members Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney. This week, it was revealed that three more SNL actors would not be returning for the next season. Melissa Villaseñor and Alex Moffat, who both joined the show in 2016, will not be returning for the 48th season. Aristotle Athari, a featured player from last season, is also not returning. Yesterday, Villaseñor took to Twitter to explain her departure and tease what's next for her.

"Oh my sweetie fans, my Melissa monsters, I know 'thas sah' me leaving the show, but! I felt this was my soul telling me its time to spread my wings. Lots more for me to dig in and discover. What an honor to experience my kid dream, what an honor. forever grateful. ♥️," Villaseñor wrote. "People ask me 'whats next whats next?!' I'm like 'chill man' I am gonna be proud for a while, travel, enjoy life, do more volunteer work, spend time with my family, from there art blooms. 🌱" You can check out her posts below:

Recently, McKinnon shared her thought process on leaving SNL during a visit to Live With Kelly and Ryan. 

"I thought about it for a very long time, and it was very, very hard," she explained. "All I ever wanted to do in my whole life was be on Saturday Night Live. So, I did, I loved it, I had the best decade, and then I was just like, my body was tired, and I felt like it was time… I don't know what I will do. I don't know that I can watch the show yet because it's too emo because I miss everyone so much. It's my family. It's too emo. So, I think I'm just going to take The Bachelorette and watch it."

When the news of Davidson's departure broke, SNL writer Dave Sirus took to Instagram to share a message from the star.

"From Pete: This video was taken 8 years ago. Jerrod sent it to me last night and it made me super emotional in the best way. In the video I had just gotten back from doing my very first update and sketch. It's crazy to think that today I'll be doing my last one. When I got the show I was 20 years old and I had no idea what I was doing. I still don't but especially back then. I wasn't really a sketch performer I was just a stand up. I knew I could never keep up or go toe to toe with a Kenan Thompson or a Kate McKinnon so I was super scared at figuring out what I could possibly bring to or do for such a historic, respected show and platform. I figured since I'm a stand up I'll just try my stand up and personal bits on Weekend Update as myself and I'm so glad I did," Davidson wrote.

Are you bummed so many people won't be returning to SNL? Tell us in the comments! 

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