Bowen Yang at the 2025 ‘Las Culturistas Culture Awards.’ (Emily Shur/Bravo)
Bowen Yang is saying goodbye to Studio 8H.
The comedian is leaving Saturday Night Live after starring as a cast member on the late-night sketch comedy series for seven seasons, according to Deadline.
Yang’s final appearance on the show will take place on the Dec. 20 episode, which will be hosted by his friend and Wicked co-star Ariana Grande. Cher will serve as the musical guest.
Representatives for SNL did not initially respond to ABC Audio’s request for comment.
Yang joined SNL as a writer ahead of season 44 in 2018 before joining the cast in season 45. He became the first featured player to be nominated for an Emmy in the outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series category. Yang was then promoted to repertory status in season 47.
In total, Yang has been nominated for four acting Emmys and one writing Emmy for his work on Saturday Night Live.
This midseason departure comes after many cast members exited the series after the landmark season 50 of the show.
Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim all left the cast ahead of the current season 51.
New cast members include Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska. Please Don’t Destroy member Ben Marshall also joined the show’s cast, splitting up the sketch comedy trio. Martin Herlihy remains on the SNL writing staff, while John Higgins departed the show.
Actor Robert Duvall poses for a portrait during the 87th Academy Awards nominee luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Feb. 2, 2015 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Jeff Vespa/Getty Images)
Robert Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor known for roles in some of American cinema’s greatest films, including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died at age 95.
“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,” read a statement posted on the actor’s official Facebook page by his wife, Luciana.
A statement from Duvall’s representative confirmed the actor’s death, reading in part, “Academy Award winning actor Robert Selden Duvall passed away peacefully in his home in Middleburg, Virginia, the evening of Sunday, February 15, 2026, with his wife Luciana Duvall by his side. He was 95.”
Duvall brought a signature naturalism to the roles he played, an unmannered style that infused his myriad characters with a calm intensity – a counterpoint to his self-confessed often hot-tempered on-set disposition – and earned him a reputation as one of his generation’s finest actors. Beginning with his memorable film debut as Boo Radley in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in which he didn’t utter a word, Robert Duvall went on to appear in more than 90 films over the next seven decades, working with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated filmmakers and performers.
Duvall shared the screen as the outlaw Ned Pepper opposite John Wayne in 1969’s True Grit, originated the role of Maj. Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s 1970 dark comedy M*A*S*H, and starred in the title role in Star Wars creator George Lucas’ 1971 directorial debut, THX 1138. Duvall also played Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and The Godfather Part II opposite his acting hero, Marlon Brando, and had a pivotal role as the ruthless network VP Frank Hackett in the acclaimed 1976 media satire Network.
As the shirtless, cowboy hat-wearing Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, Duvall delivered the film’s most oft-quoted line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Four years later, Duvall won the Academy Award for best actor for playing Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music star attempting to make amends, in Tender Mercies.
Other career highlights included playing cynical sportswriter Max Murphy in the 1984 Robert Redford baseball fable The Natural; NASCAR crew chief Harry Hogge opposite Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the 1990 action hit Days of Thunder; Sgt. Martin Prendergast, the retiring LAPD officer who spends his final day on the job pursuing Michael Douglas’ unhinged character in 1993’s Falling Down; and a criminal court judge accused of murder who’s defended by his estranged son, played by Robert Downey Jr., in the 2014 legal drama The Judge.
Of all his many celebrated acting roles, however, Duvall repeatedly said his favorite was that of retired Texas Ranger Augustus “Gus” McCrae in the 1989 TV Western miniseries Lonesome Dove. The series was one of several TV projects in which Duvall starred. Others included playing the title role in 1992’s HBO film drama Stalin, for which he won a Golden Globe – his fourth lifetime win – and the 2006 AMC Western miniseries Broken Trail, which earned Duvall a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor, in addition to another for producing the series.
In total, Duvall was nominated for seven Academy Awards, the final three for his performances in 1997’s The Apostle, which he also wrote and directed; 1998’s A Civil Action, co-starring with John Travolta as a corrupt corporate attorney; and 2014’s The Judge. His nomination for The Judge, at age 84, then made him the oldest actor ever nominated in the best supporting actor category, until Christopher Plummer, at age 86, was nominated three years later for All the Money in the World.
Other notable later films in which Duvall appeared include The Handmaid’s Tale in 1990, 1996’s Sling Blade, 1998’s sci-fi action thriller Deep Impact, Crazy Heart in 2009 – this time with Jeff Bridges playing a down-on-his luck country singer – and as a shooting range owner in the 2012 Tom Cruise hit Jack Reacher.
In addition to his Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe wins, Robert Duvall won a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award, the former for Apocalypse Now and the latter for A Civil Action, as well as dozens of other critical and popular award nominations and wins. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts by then-President George W. Bush in 2005.
Duvall was married four times, most recently in 2005 to Luciana Pedraza, who survives him. He had no children.
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Nearly a year after June Osborn’s story in The Handmaid’s Tale series reached its conclusion, a new chapter of Gilead’s story will be told in The Testaments, a series also based on Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name.
The trailer introduces audiences to Agnes McKenzie (Chase Infiniti), who sets the scene: A dollhouse mirroring what it’s like in Gilead, the fictional totalitarian theocratic regime that was introduced in The Handmaid’s Tale, which has replaced the United States and is structured around strict gender roles and religion.
“Some dolls were always busy,” Infiniti begins. “Others were always doing the important work. There is a little girl doll, that’s me.”
As clips of Infiniti in purple uniform appear with other girls in purple uniform, she says, “Back then, we still believed in this world.”
“I guess it’s easier to accept a story than believe that the people around you are monsters,” Infiniti adds as a clip of her and her friends appear to be introduced to the atrocities of Gilead for the first time.
According to a synopsis, The Testaments serves as an “evolution of The Handmaid’s Tale.” It’s a coming-of-age story following the young women as they navigate the halls of Aunt Lydia’s (Ann Dowd) preparatory school for future wives.
The show also stars Lucy Halliday, Rowan Blanchard, Mattea Conforti and Mabel Li.
Atwood’s book, which was released in 2019, served as a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale and was set 15 years after June’s story.
Elisabeth Moss, who portrayed June Osborne/Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale, serves as a co-executive producer with showrunner Bruce Miller.
