Saturday Night Live kicks off its 40th season this weekend with two new cast members and without six players from last season. Some have gone to greener pastures, while others were simply let go. And according to TMZ, SNL veteran and top-notch Steve Harvey player, Kenan Thompson, may soon be joining them.
The site quotes “sources connected to SNL” as saying that Thompson wanted to leave after last season, but Lorne Michaels asked him to stay in order to maintain some consistency. These same sources report that Thompson is “in talks for a new show and plans on moving to L.A.” However, as multiple outlets repeated the TMZ reports, a spokesperson for the show has refuted them as “incredibly inaccurate,” saying that casting decisions are not made until season’s end.
If Thompson were to leave at the end of the year, he would be the third-most tenured cast member in the show’s history. He already boasts the longest stint among black cast members and among cast members who were born after the show began. If he decided to stick around for just three more years, he could beat out Darrell Hammond and Seth Meyers for the top spot.