As rumors swirl surrounding potential Saturday Night Live cast departures ahead of the iconic sketch series’ 51st season, Kenan Thompson is speaking out.
The longest-running cast member in the series’ history, who has 22 seasons under his belt, offered a few cryptic words about the season to come while speaking with Page Six recently, suggesting that a big shakeup may be to come.
While Thompson is hopeful for his own future, he told the outlet he has yet to sign a contract for Season 23, admitting that you can “never know what the future holds.”
“I don’t want to be in the way of someone else or I don’t want to be the stale old man riding the same thing,” he admitted. “That doesn’t really happen that much at SNL but there’s no guarantees, I guess.”
That lack of guarantee made the ending of the historic 50th season all the more “bittersweet,” with Thompson explaining, “Especially this year where it feels like there’s maybe, possibly, a lot of change next year.”
During the season finale, the writers joked about Sarah Sherman’s departure, while Michael Che wrote several quips about Colin Jost chasing after Lorne Michaels‘ position.
As far as we know, absolutely nothing is set in stone yet—but as Thompson puts it, nobody is looking forward to any potential changes.
“You want everyone to stay forever, knowing that people may be making decisions this summer,” he said, comparing it to “want[ing] your kids to stay young.”
For now, all anyone can do is cross their fingers, and it sounds like the Nickelodeon alum certainly is. “I mean, I love that place,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite places to be.”
Related: Everything You Need to Know About ‘SNL’ Season 51