Fred Armisen Leaving ‘SNL,’ Jason Sudeikis ‘Probably’ Out As Well

An unnamed source at NBC has confirmed that Fred Armisen will be leaving Saturday Night Live after 11 seasons.

The source also went on to say that Jason Sudeikis will “probably” leave the sketch comedy series as well at the end of the season.

Neither departure isn’t completely unexpected. Since co-creating the IFC sketch comedy series Portlandia in 2010, Armisen’s appearances on SNL have been more and more infrequent. And Sudeikis has been rumored to be leaving SNL since last year. Sudeikis had been portraying Mitt Romney throughout the election, and once Obama was re-elected, Sudeikis lost his biggest reason to remain on the show. While he also portrayed Vice President Joe Biden, it was unlikely that the role would be enough to keep him on the show.

Sudeikis’ movie career is also booming right now (he has three films in the tank this year), and he could decide to focus on scoring more lead roles instead of playing second banana to Jay Pharoah for the next three years.

Should Armisen and Sudeikis leave, they will be joining Bill Hader, who announced his departure earlier this week.

“It was a hard decision, but it has to happen at some point,” Hader said. “It got to a point where I said, ‘Maybe it’s just time to go.”

Seth Meyers is also leaving the show, although it won’t be until next year. SNL‘s head writer will be returning in the fall and will leave halfway through the season to host Last Night. Current host Jimmy Fallon will moving to take Jay Leno’s spot on the Tonight Show.

Sudeikis and Armisen’s departures would leave Kenan Thompson and Bobby Moynihan as the most senior cast members, with 10 and six seasons, respectively.

Are you disappointed that Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis might be leaving Saturday Night Live? Who do you think should replace them?

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