Bowen Yang has finally explained why he bowed out of Saturday Night Live . On Wednesday’s episode of his podcast Las Culturistas , which he co-hosts with his friend, comedian Matt Rogers, the Wicked actor got frank about his surprising exit from the long-running sketch show after seven seasons. “This is honestly what’s behind it: It’s time,” he said, a little over five minutes into the episode. “You would do seven seasons, and then you would scoot.” Bowen Yang attends the 5th Annual Academy Museum Gala at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Oct. 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. Bowen continued: “[After Covid], the current media landscape, the current entertainment ecosystem, is so turbulent that people have completely valid reasons for staying longer. Or, in a lot of cases, don’t have the privilege of staying on as long as they would like to. “I have this very beautiful thing where I get to say that I stayed on exactly as long as I wanted to.” But he almost left the show earlier, he revealed. “I was maybe unsure about going back in the summer, and I’m so glad I did,” Bowen said, referencing his unorthodox decision to leave halfway through the show’s 51st season. In his final episode, Bowen got to say goodbye to the show in a meta sketch with Cher and Ariana Grande . In the skit, he played an airport employee on his last shift — and it was a much more sincere and bittersweet sketch than the show typically airs. Bowen said on his podcast that initially, the sketch was supposed to be much wackier, with his character’s eggnog machine spraying people. He credited SNL creator Lorne Michaels for the more tender tone. Bowen recalled the producer coming up to him before the show and telling him: “I think it’s better if it’s just you guys and you just play into the emotion of it.” Yang’s last goodnight credits on “SNL” in December. Although the Fire Island actor seems to have left SNL on his own – and good – terms, other cast members seemingly haven’t been as lucky. Ahead of Season 51, several performer parted ways with the show, and it’s unclear if they were fired or quit. Heidi Gardner , Ego Nwodim , Michael Longfellow , Emil Wakim and Devon Walker left after Season 50 — and none of them received a send-off like Bowen. Devon, in particular, didn’t mince his words after it was announced he was leaving SNL after three seasons. “Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell,” he said on Instagram in August, not making it clear whether he quit the show or was fired. “We made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a fucked up lil family.” READ MORE: 9 Best Moments And Biggest Talking Points From Sabrina Carpenter's Saturday Night Live Episode Lily Allen Joined By Surprise A-List Guest For Madeline Performance On SNL Aimee Lou Wood Compares Calling Out Infamous SNL Sketch To Confronting Childhood Bullies