Posted in: NBC, Preview, TV, YouTube | Tagged: Austin Butler, Cecily Strong, lizzo, nbc, preview, saturday night live, snl

Saturday Night Live Confirms Cecily Strong Departing SNL Tonight

As excited as we are for tonight's year-ending episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live, there's going to be a bittersweet feeling once host Austin Butler (Elvis) and musical guest Lizzo hit the stage. That's because the long-running sketch comedy/music series confirmed this evening that tonight will mark the final SNL episode for Cecily Strong. Originally joining the series back in 2012, many expected Strong to depart heading into this season (as Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, and others had) after ten years with the series and television & film calling. Reports were that Strong chose to stay for the first half of the current season out of respect for series creator Lorne Michaels and to help smooth the show's transition to a newer cast.

Here's a look at the tweet and Instagram post that went out earlier this evening, signaling that Strong would be departing SNL as the long-running sketch comedy/music series enters its midseason, end-of-year break:

Saturday Night Live: A Look Back at Austin Butler's SNL Week

For Friday's on-stage promos, Strong joined the duo for not one… not two… not three… but four mini-sketches. And while we don't want to spoil things, let's just say that they range from Strong's skills at improvised holiday gifts and joke-stealing to a classic The Office joke and Lizzo channeling her inner "Austin Butler":

And here's a look at some screencaps of the SNL cast as well as an Instagram post spotlighting Butler from the midweek read-thru on Wednesday:

And here's a look at Butler getting ready for his first time hosting SNL (and getting a reality check) during his midweek sketch, followed by a look back at how the rest of the week went:

Here's the official SNL "welcome" video for Butler & Lizzo from earlier in the week, followed by a rundown of this season's cast (including the newest cast photo) and a look back at some thoughts that SNL creator Lorne Michaels had to share prior to Season 48:

NBC's SNL Season 48 includes Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Devon Walker, and Bowen Yang. Executive produced by Michaels, SNL is directed by Liz Patrick, with alum Darrell Hammond announcing. Based out of Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, the long-running late-night sketch comedy/music series is produced by SNL Studios in association with Universal Television and Broadway Video.

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