Saturday Night Live has often been a rather large stepping stone for comedic actors, many of whom have gone on to create names for themselves beyond their place on the sketch comedy series. Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis have already begun to do just that, having appeared in various films while also appearing on SNL. While it isn’t a huge surprise to hear rumors that they’re set to depart the show after this season, it’s still disappointing.
File this one as unconfirmed, as no official announcement has been made, but Us Weekly is reporting that two of their sources say key players are on their way out. One of those sources says Wiig, Samberg and Sudeikis will leave the series after this season. But US also notes that these rumors have been refuted by Wiig and Sudeikis:
And though a rep for Wiig, 38, and Sudeikis, 36, refutes this -- telling Us, "No decisions are made until the season is over" -- an insider says the timing is right, especially for the Bridesmaids star.
Zap2It.com's source also says no decisions will be made until later this summer.
As much as I don’t want to believe that any of these three mentioned names are leaving the show, especially if it means the end of Samberg’s occasional and often hilarious digital shorts, it’s not all that difficult to believe, given their other projects. Samberg has That’s My Boy and Hotel Transylvania coming up. Sudeikis has roles in Relanxious and the untitled Farrelly/Wessler Project. And Wiig has a handful of feature projects in the works, dating all the way to 2014, for her voice-role in the How to Train Your Dragon sequel.
All three actors have benefited from the exposure SNL has given them as much as the long-running sketch comedy series has benefited from their talents. While their departure would be a huge loss, I believe the series would recover, if not right away than eventually. That’s sort of the beauty of Saturday Night Live. We’ll have to wait and see whether there’s official confirmation on this.
(Photo via Oprah.com)
