Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg today ended months of speculations that he would be leaving the veteran NBC sketch comedy show. He confirmed his exit through his publicist. Samberg, Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis are the three SNL cast members whose contacts were up at the end of this season and who have been rumored to leave. Wiig’s departure was announced at the end of the season finale of SNL with a heartfelt send-off, leaving Sudeikis as the only one of the trio whose fate has not been fully determined. “It’s an incredibly emotional and strange moment in my life,” Samberg told The New York Times. “Obviously it’s not a huge shock, but I did officially decide not to come back.” In addition to his role as a sketch performer, Samberg also helped SNL transition to the digital age. Along with his Lonely Island cohorts Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, he launched the show’s popular digital shorts franchise which became a pop culture fixture and even won an Emmy. Samberg seems to be looking to transition to a feature career — he is about to make his debut as a lead in a non-SNL-affiliated movie, starring opposite Adam Sandler in That’s My Boy, which opens in two weeks.
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter