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Saturday Night Live <\/em>castmember Emil Wakim is leaving after one season.<\/p>\n Wakim, who joined the storied NBC late-night sketch series in 2024 for the milestone 50th season, announced the news on social media Wednesday, explaining that it wasn\u2019t his choice to exit.<\/p>\n More from The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt was a gut punch of a call to get,\u201d the Lebanese-American comedian wrote in a post on Instagram (below), \u201cbut i\u2019m so grateful for my time there.\u201d<\/p>\n Wakim said he was celebrating a friend\u2019s birthday at Six Flags when he got the news and \u201cwent on a really emotional walk through bugs bunny park and stared out across daffy duck lake thinking about life.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on his time at the beloved institution, he described his SNL<\/em> run as \u201cthe most terrifying, thrilling and rewarding experience of my life and i will miss it dearly and all the brilliant people that work there that made it feel like a home.\u201d<\/p>\n He ended his note by saying, \u201cHere\u2019s to making more art without compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n Wakim joined season 50 along with Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline as a featured player for 2024-25. The season ran with most of the previous season\u2019s ensemble intact, after\u00a0Punkie Johnson<\/a>,\u00a0Molly Kearney<\/a>\u00a0and featured player Chloe Troast announced their departures.<\/p>\n Wakim\u2019s exit ahead of the 51st season follows Devon Walker announcing yesterday <\/a>that he is also leaving the show after three seasons. Walker announced that he, too, was not asked back, writing in an\u00a0Instagram post<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday that \u201cme and baby broke up.\u201d He further wrote, \u201cTo me, jobs in this industry feel like a bunch of little marriages. Some of \u2018em last for a long time, but most of them are fleeting. Permanent until they\u2019re not. That\u2019s the deal. You know what it is when you sign up.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview with\u00a0Puck<\/a><\/em>\u00a0last week, executive producer Lorne Michaels said that some changes were likely coming. He did, however, confirm that James Austin Johnson would continue playing President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n Prior to SNL<\/em>, Wakim performed stand-up on\u00a0The Tonight Show<\/em>\u00a0and at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, where he was named a \u201cNew Face of Comedy\u201d in 2022. He\u2019s also opened for comics Roy Wood Jr., Nikki Glaser and Hasan Minhaj.<\/p>\n Best of The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for THR’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n