Is Kenan Thompson Saying Goodbye To ‘Saturday Night Live?’
Kenan Thompson has the record for being the long-running cast member on Saturday Night Live. He joined the show back in 2003 during its 29th season and has been a staple of the program ever since.
But all good things must come to an end eventually. As much as everyone loves Kenan Thompson, he recently admitted that he “needs to start planning” for the future and life after SNL. But what would that possibly look like?
Kenan Thompson is thinking about his next big career move
This isn’t the first time there have been whispers about Kenan Thompson’s exit from SNL. After all, he’s been on the show for nearly 20 years. Some fans thought the 44-year-old comedian might leave after his show Kenan took off. But sadly NBC decided to cancel the show after two seasons. But even so, the actor still likely has many other options left on the table.
So what exactly prompted him to think about his exit this time?
As of December 2021, show creator Lorne Michaels said he is committed to running SNL through its 50th anniversary, which is in three years. Rumor has it that Michaels will then retire — and the future of SNL will be up in the air after that. It’s possible the show could continue, but Kenan Thompson thinks it might not be a horrible idea to end at Season 50.
“There could be a lot of validity to that rumor, because 50 is a good number to stop at, you know what I’m saying?” Kenan said on an episode of Hell of a Week. “That’s an incredible package. He will be, probably, close to 80 years old at that point, and you know, he’s the one who’s had his touch on the whole thing.”
If SNL does indeed come to an end, Kenan Thompson and the rest of the SNL players will be out of work.
What would SNL even look like without Lorne Michaels?
Saturday Night Live fans said goodbye to several castmates at the end of last season, including Kate McKinnon and Pete Davidson — both of whom had much shorter runtimes than Kenan Thompson. But he loves his time on SNL and wants to stick around for as long as he can.
In the interview, Kenan noted that SNL could continue without Lorne Michaels, but wondered if it would have the same quality.
“So, if somebody tries to come into his shoes … you know it’s a good opportunity for NBC to save money, as well, you know what I’m saying?” the Fat Albert star continued. “…they might slash the budget and then at that point, you can’t really do the same kind of show.”
“So that’s unfair to watch it just really go down kind of in flames, like, for real for real, because of those restrictions,” he added. “So capping it at 50 might not be a bad idea, I don’t know.”
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