“Don’t want to be the stale old man”— Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson hints at changes in season 51

The finale of Saturday Night Live season 50 came out on May 17. The episode ended abruptly when Scarlett Johansson was still in the midst of her goodbye speech. Fans on X criticized the unusual cut because it was the season finale, and because the speech could have contained the news of a cast member's exit.

Speculations around the cast members of the coveted show exiting have been doing the rounds on the internet for a while now. After the Golden Jubilee season ended, Kenan Thompson, the show's longest-running member, was interviewed by Page Six on May 24. He addressed these rumors here, saying,

"I don’t want to be the stale old man riding the same thing."

He also said that there were "no guarantees" of a change not coming, acknowledging that even though fans wanted everything to stay the same, a change might be coming.

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What Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson said about change in the upcoming season

Kenan has been with Saturday Night Live for 22 seasons, the longest anyone has ever been with the show. So, like the other members of the cast, the rumor mills also speculated on his departure from the next season. In his interview with Page Six, taken at the Reel Works 24th Changemakers Gala, although he didn't specifically mention anyone's exit, he spoke about an imminent "change."

He said that the ending of season 50 was bittersweet.

"Especially this year where it feels like there’s maybe, possibly, a lot of change next year," he said.

He added that nobody liked change and that everyone wanted everybody to stay forever, but decisions were being made this summer. He compared the feeling to people wanting their kids to stay young forever. Further hinting at a change, Kenan said that no one knew what the future held. He added that he didn't want to be in the way of anybody, nor did he want to be a stale old man.

"That doesn’t really happen that much at ‘SNL’ but there’s no guarantees, I guess," he added.

The Saturday Night Live star clarified his intentions for the show, stating that he loved the place and that it was one of his favorite places to be.

In the season finale, cast members joked about Sarah Sherman being fired, after her SNL comments on The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood upset the star. Colin Jost also joked, several times, about how he was after Lorne Michaels' job, in the Weekend Update section.

While people speculated that Lorne Michaels, who is now 80, could be the one moving on from the show, he put rumors to rest in an interview he gave to Hollywood Reporter last year in September. He said that as long as it was important and as long as he was useful, he would continue being on the show.

Speculations about Kenan's exit from the show came because of his tenure on the show. He has been with Saturday Night Live for 22 seasons, so it was more likely for him to depart. When Page Six asked him if he had signed the contract for season 51, he said he had not yet done it. However, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, published on April 4, Kenan said it would be "crazy" if he left the show.

While this hinted at him continuing with the show, the same couldn't be said about the other cast members because no official announcements about the upcoming season's cast have been made yet. It is for the fans to see who remains and which new members get added.

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