Longtime popular “Saturday Night Live” stars Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney are expected to leave the program, Variety and Deadline reported Friday.
Their last regular appearances will be the final show of the 47th season on Saturday, sources told Deadline, and it may include a group goodbye.
There were no immediate details on why they’re leaving, but most have increasingly taken on new creative projects outside the program.
A future successful “SNL” mix is critical to NBC. In the 2020-2021 season, it was the most-watched entertainment program on TV among viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, the demographic preferred by advertisers, according to Variety.
Both McKinnon and Bryant have been with “SNL” since 2012.
McKinnon has convincingly morphed on “SNL” into a wild series of various characters from Rudy Giuliani to Kellyanne Conway, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Justin Bieber, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Jeff Sessions and Amy Coney Barrett.
She skipped some episodes this season to film the “Tiger King” Peacock TV series in which she played Carole Baskin.
Bryant will be exiting on a high with her smarmy killer clone of Sen. Ted Cruz. She also nailed it with her version of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She’s also the creator and star of “Shrill” on Hulu.
Davidson joined “SNL” in 2014 when he was just 20. He has been the star and organizer of a wide range of sly, hilarious, sophisticated music videos on the porgram, nailed super slacker Chad, and was a smart-mouthed commentator on “Weekend Update.” He’s been straight-up about his personal life on the show, including his battles with mental health, and did a desperate, quirky Jared Kushner.
Davidson’s current starring role is as the real-life boyfriend of Kim Kardashian. The two connected last October on the “Saturday Night Live” set, where Davidson played a seriously out-sexed Aladdin to Kardashian’s steamy Princess Jasmine — on a flying carpet, no less.
Davidson was largely absent this season as he filmed James DeMonaco’s horror movie “The Home.” He took time out in the past from “SNL” to star in the 2020 movie “King of Staten Island,” which he also co-wrote.
“SNL” boss Lorne Michaels is an executive producer of Davidson’s latest project, the Peacock series “Bupkis,” based on his life and starring him. Davidson is also co-writing.
Mooney has been with “SNL” since 2013 in a wide variety of sketches. Last week he played Johnny Depp in a cold open sketch of the Depp/Amber Heard trial — and Baby Yoda on “Weekend Update.”