Cecily Strong Leaving Saturday Night Live

Cecily Strong has announced her imminent departure from Saturday Night Live.

The longtime SNL cast member will bid farewell to the sketch comedy show during tonight’s Christmas episode. “Tonight we send off one of the best to ever do it,” SNL wrote in a social media post. “We’ll miss you, Cecily!”

Strong joined SNL in 2012, and her 11 seasons on the show is tied with Kate McKinnon as the longest tenure for a female cast member in history.

Strong had previously been rumored to be leaving SNL this past summer as part of a massive cast exodus that included McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Pete Davidson, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, and Chris Redd. While she missed the first three episodes of SNL’s 48th season due to scheduling conflicts tied to her one-woman stage play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Strong returned to Studio 8H on October 29th for the start of a six-episode final run.

Not counting Kenan Thompson and his absurd 20-season tenure, Weekend Update co-anchor and co-head writer Michael Che is now the longest serving SNL cast member currently on the show (he is on his ninth season). Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner are next, with seven and six season under their belts, respectively.

Next up for Strong is Season 2 of her Apple TV+ comedy Schmigadoon!, co-starring Keenan- Michael Key.

Tonight we send off one of the best to ever do it. We’ll miss you, Cecily! pic.twitter.com/zsoGfw8SdP

— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) December 18, 2022