Saturday Night Live comedian Kenan Thompson said the show could end after the 2024-2025 season.
Thompson appeared on Charlamagne tha God’s Hell of a Week series and addressed rumors that SNL longtime producer Lorne Michaels, 77, might retire once the NBC comedy show reaches its 50th season.
“Is that the rumor? All right, I need to start planning,” Thompson joked.
“There could be a lot of validity to that rumor, because 50 is a good number to stop at,” Thompson continued. “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.”
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Thompson, who formerly was a star on Nickelodeon’s Kenan & Kel show, added that it would be a “good opportunity for NBC to save money,” noting that the network spends a lot of money on SNL each week.
“[NBC] 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 for real because of those restrictions … Capping it at 50 might not be a bad idea,” he said.
Michaels talked in December about plans for SNL through 2025.
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“I think I’m committed to doing this show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years,” Michaels told CBS News. “I’d like to see that through, and I have a feeling that’d be a really good time to leave. But here’s the point: I won’t want the show ever to be bad. I care too deeply about it. It’s been my life’s work. So, I’m gonna do everything I can to see it carry on and carry on well.”
