The end of Saturday Night Live might be in sight.
Kenan Thompson appeared on the Season 2 premiere of Comedy Central’s Hell of a Week with Charlamagne tha God, where he discussed a rumor regarding the long-standing sketch series. They touched on the prospect of 77-year-old SNL boss Lorne Michaels possibly stepping down from his role after 50 seasons, with his retirement perhaps signaling the show’s finale. Season 50 will air in 2024-25.
While Thompson didn’t confirm Michaels’ departure, he did speculate alongside Charlamagne about what could happen with the show. Kenan confessed that wrapping after 50 seasons wouldn’t be a bad move. In particular, he pointed to the show potentially getting less support from NBC without Michaels.
“The rumor is, the show is ending at its 50th season because Mr. Lorne Michaels doesn’t want to do it after age 80. Is that true?” Charlamagne said. Thompson responded, “Is that the rumor?”
“That is the rumor, that’s what the streets is saying,” Charlamagne said.
“Alright I need to start planning,” Thompson quipped. “There could be a lot of validity to that rumor because 50 is a good number to stop at. That’s an incredible package. He will be, probably, close to 80 years old at that point, and you know, he’s the one that’s had his touch on the whole thing.”
He continued, “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? So 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 just watch it just really go down kind of in flames for real because of those restrictions…so capping it a 50 might not be a bad idea,” Thompson added.
Watch the entire clip up top.
