Wicked Star Quits Saturday Night Live Midseason After 7 Years

Saturday Night Live is set to have one of its biggest shows of the season on Saturday, as the Christmas episode will feature a duo of music powerhouses as host and musical guest. Acclaimed singer and Wicked star Ariana Grande will be hosting this weekend’s episode, and the iconic Cher will be the musical guest, so there’s a lot to celebrate. There will also be some disappointment though, as another Wicked star is departing SNL, and they are leaving in the middle of the season.

According to a report from THR, Wicked star Bowen Yang is leaving the show midseason, and his final episode will be the aforementioned Christmas episode with Grande. The report states that leaving the show was Yang’s choice, and that despite the shocking timing of it all from the outside, that timing was not a surprise to the show.

What Does The Future Hold For Bowen Yang Post-SNL?

Yang gained even more fans with his delightful turn in Wicked and Wicked: For Good, and once his Saturday Night Live run ends, he has even more in the works that should keep him busy for quite some time. That includes his next film project, Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me, an adaptation of the graphic memoir from author Sarah Leavitt. The memoir reveals how Alzheimer’s affected her mother, Midge, and her family, and utilizes black and white drawings to convey the emotional and poignant story of shock, anger, frustration, and hope.

Yang also has a very different project on deck in the form of the animated adaptation of The Cat in the Hat. As opposed to the previous adaptation, this version is fully animated and features SNL alum Bill Hader in the role of the Cat in the Hat, and will also star Yang, Xochitl Gomez, Tiago Martinez, Quinta Brunson, America Ferrera, Matt Berry, Tituss Burgess, Giancarlo Esposito, and Paula Pell.

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Yang is also the co-host of the Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers, and they are currently working on a new movie for Searchlight Pictures that they will write and star in. The film will see them playing a pair of Americans attempting to get into the most exclusive nightclub in the world, and with a premise like that, you just know it’s going to be full of opportunities for comedy gold.

Yang’s final episode of SNL will air Saturday, December 20th, on NBC.

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