Is there a cast shakeup in the works at Saturday Night Live? Longtime SNL comedian Kenan Thompson thinks so.
In an interview published on Saturday, May 24, Thompson told Page Six wrapping the show’s milestone 50th season this month was “bittersweet.”
“Especially this year where it feels like there’s maybe, possibly, a lot of change next year,” the actor and comic said at the Reel Works 24th Changemakers Gala where he was honored.
Related: Kenan Thompson Calls Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame ‘Surreal’
The Emmy winner was a child actor and rose to stardom with roles on Nickelodeon’s Kenan & Kel, All That, and in the 1997 film Good Burger.
He joined SNL in 2003, and has been on the show for 22 seasons. But after all this time, Thompson told Page Six he doesn’t know if he’ll be back for season 51.
“You just never know what the future holds,” he said. “I don’t want to be in the way of someone else or I don’t want to be the stale old man riding the same thing. That doesn’t really happen that much at SNL, but there’s no guarantees, I guess.”
Although the comic said he hopes to return.
“I mean, I love that place,” he explained. “It’s one of my favorite places to be.”
A 2022 cast shakeup saw multiple veteran players exit SNL, including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Kyle Mooney.
McKinnon went on to a starring role in the 2023 blockbuster film Barbie.
Bryant had a lead role on the animated Netflix series Human Resources.
Davidson starred in and produced his semi-autobiographical Peacock series Bupkis, from Universal TV and SNL creator Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video.
And Mooney had parts in several films and TV shows.
So far, there’s been no official word about the cast on the new season of SNL, which debuts this fall on NBC.
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