Bowen Yang says Lorne Michaels personally asked him to remain on Saturday Night Live into 2025, after a conversation during the US Open. Yang’s timing left fans wondering why he didn’t exit at season’s end—until he explained the plea that made the transition f
For Bowen Yang, the moment didn’t come with a grand announcement. It came while he was at the US Open—long before he would eventually leave Saturday Night Live for good—and it changed the calendar of his exit.
Yang. now looking back on departing the show in 2025 after seven seasons. described the decision in an “Actors on Actors” conversation with Rachel Sennott. He said he had been resolute about leaving the season before. But then Lorne Michaels called him directly and asked him to stay “a bit longer. ” so he could be there for the start of a new cast.
“He was just like, ‘Listen, you should come back. These are the people I’ve hired. It’s a lot of new kids, and the turnover is there. A lot of people left, a lot of people are coming in. You should be there to set an example for them, at least for the first half of the season,’” Yang said.
Yang agreed. “And I was like, ‘OK.’ … He was like, ‘I’m telling you, it would be very important.’” He added that it was the first time he felt Michaels was telling him, “I need you.”
The explanation matters because Yang’s departure didn’t fit neatly into how fans often expect exits to work. His last Saturday Night Live episode aired in the middle of Season 51. leading some viewers to ask why he didn’t simply step away at the end of the previous season or stay through the Season 51 finale.
Yang said the transition felt different than a hard landing. He later described coming off SNL as having space to breathe—something he said he couldn’t easily create while working at the show. Speaking at the Gold Gala in May. he called it a “soft landing. ” saying he didn’t have to jump into something “super taxing” right away. “I gave myself the space to travel, be with my family, read,” he said. “I wasn’t reading any books while I was at that job. Literally, I was illiterate!. But I am just like convalescing into myself again.”.
Between Season 50 and Season 51, SNL underwent a major shakeup. Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim all exited. Several comedians who left have said they did not leave voluntarily but were fired. The show marked its biggest cast disruption since 2022.
For Season 51, Saturday Night Live added five new comedians: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska. When Yang returned for Season 51—and wasn’t part of the summer cast exodus—many fans assumed he might have decided against leaving. Instead, he announced his departure in December of that year.
Unlike many cast members who exit quietly, Yang received what he described as a grand sendoff on his last episode. In the last sketch of the Christmas show, he played an airport employee on their final shift, a meta farewell that framed his departure in the language of the show itself.
He also got a musical moment in that sketch. Yang sang with Cher, whom he had previously named as his dream SNL host. Ariana Grande hosted the episode, and she is also his costar in Wicked.
In the conversation, Yang said he believes the show was fine without him. He said he felt Saturday Night Live was in a “great place without me,” and that he never felt “that central” based on the kinds of roles he played in sketches.
“There was a weird utility to me where it was like – and I’ve accepted this – I never played, like, the dad, or the straight man teacher,” he said. “I was always kind of there as the seasoning.”
Before he spoke on Actors on Actors, Yang had discussed leaving on his Las Culturistas podcast in January, saying he felt it was “time” to go. “I have this very beautiful thing where I get to say that I stayed on exactly as long as I wanted to,” he said.
Now, Yang is moving on with new work. He is coming off playing Pfannee in the two Wicked movies. Next, he will be heard as part of the voice cast of the animated movie The Cat in the Hat.
Saturday Night Live wrapped its 51st season in May and is currently on summer hiatus. No announcements have been made yet about which cast members will return for the fall, leaving the show’s next chapter still to be defined—just as Yang’s own exit, timed around Michaels’ call, already has.
Bowen Yang Saturday Night Live SNL Lorne Michaels US Open Actors on Actors Rachel Sennott Season 51 Wicked Cher Ariana Grande Las Culturistas The Cat in the Hat