The “Wicked” star spent six-and-a-half seasons on the “Saturday Night Live” cast.

Bowen Yang expected to exit SNL after Ariana Grande-hosted episode

The "Wicked" star spent six-and-a-half seasons on the "Saturday Night Live" cast.

By Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm is news director at *. *She has worked at EW for more than eight years. Jillian has previously worked as a reporter, social media editor, and homepage producer at NBC News, Digital First Media, Newsday, and *Random Lengths News.*

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December 19, 2025 1:56 p.m. ET

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Bowen Yang attends 'SNL50: The Homecoming Concert' in New York City on Feb. 14. Credit:

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Bowen Yang is expected to say goodbye to *Saturday Night Live* with this weekend's episode after completing six-and-a-half seasons on the cast.

The comedian will reportedly exit the show following the Dec. 20 episode and not return to finish out season 51 after the new year. Fittingly, the year-end ep will be fronted by Yang's *Wicked: For Good* costar and close friend Ariana Grande, with musical guest Cher, whom he has often cited as one of his top icons — and his dream *SNL *guest.**

Representatives for *SNL* and Yang did not immediately reply to *'s* request to comment.**

Yang's departure will be the first exit since the *SNL* cast shakeup that took place ahead of the season 51 premiere on Oct. 4. Longtime stars Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim, as well as Devon Walker. Michael Longfellow, and brand new featured player Emil Wakim, were all missing from the current season.

Yang began his time at* SNL *first as a writer in 2018 before being promoted to the cast the next year for season 45, becoming the show's first Chinese American cast member and one of only a few out gay stars in the show's 50-year history.

Even before joining *SNL*, Yang was a known presence to comedy fans, cohosting the long-running *Las Culturistas *podcast with frequent collaborator Matt Rogers, appearing on episodes of* Broad City, High Maintenance, *and* 2 Dope Queens, *and garnering popularity for viral lip-sync performances of famous TV and movie moments on social media.

Bowen Yang as Moo Dang the hippo with Colin Jost on 'Weekend Update'.

Will Heath/NBC via Getty

Yang has made a name for himself on *SNL *with impressions of JD Vance, Andrew Yang, Kim Jong-un, Fran Lebowitz, as well as "Weekend Update" characters like Trend Forecasters with Aidy Bryant, Chinese trade representative Chen Biao, a.k.a. Trade Daddy, and especially out-of-the-box characters like the Iceberg That Sank the Titanic, the Chinese Spy Balloon, and viral baby pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng.

'SNL' cast changes: Here's everyone leaving, returning, or new for season 51

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He's also lived out his pop culture dreams appearing in wild sketches that see him singing with some of his musical icons like Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, and Grande.

Not to mention, Yang has scored five Emmy nominations during his time on *SNL*, including making history in 2021 as the first featured player to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award when he scored an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series nod. He was nominated in the same category in 2022, 2024, and 2025 as well, and received an Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series nomination in 2019.

Bowen Yang as JD Vance and James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump on 'Saturday Night Live'.

Will Heath/NBC via Getty

Yang has had a steady career outside of his work on *SNL, *appearing on the shows *Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, Girls5eva, Fantasmas, *and* Overcompensating, *and starring in the films *Fire Island, Bros, Dicks: The Musical, The Wedding Banquet, *and of course the Oscar-nominated *Wicked *and *Wicked: For Good. *

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Yang played coy when asked by EW back in May if he looked emotional at the season 50 finale because it was his last episode. "No, we're not doing that," Yang demurred with a laugh.

"Every finale at goodnights something leaves my body because I'm just relieved from all that happened in that season and this was a big one," he elaborated. "We went through a lot, so many fun memories. I think that was probably what was registering. I was just like, oh, I need to savor these moments before I don't have them anymore."

*Saturday Night Live* airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.**

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Source: “EW SNL”