Cecily Strong Departing From 'Saturday Night Live' This Weekend

Castmember Cecily Strong is officially leaving "Saturday Night Live." Tonight's episode will be her final appearance, and the show will be giving the actress and comedian an official sendoff. The official Twitter account for the sketch comedy show confirmed Strong's exit earlier on Saturday evening (Dec. 17).

https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1604299423760191488

Per the "SNL" Twitter account's announcement, "Tonight we send off one of the best to ever do it. We'll miss you, Cecily!" The "SNL" Instagram account also commemorated her exit, showing a cue card that says, "We'll miss you, Cecily."

Strong first joined the show in 2012 and departs during its 48th season. Through the years, she created the character, "The Girl You Wish YOu Hadn't Started a Conversation With at a Party," and she also had famous impersonations of celebrities such as Kendall Jenner, Megyn Kelly, former First Lady Melania Trump, Judge Jeanine Pirro, and Liz Cheney.

In 2014, Strong was selected as the co-anchor for "Weekend Update," one of the most prestigious roles on the show. She served as co-anchor opposite Seth Meyers and Colin Jost. However, she quit as host of the segment after one season, since the "Weekend Update" anchors were restricted from appearing in regular sketches on the show.

She appeared in the cold open for her final episode as Kimberly Guilfoyle. This weekend's episode features guest host Austin Butler and musical guest Lizzo.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the plan had been for Strong to return for only the first half of Season 38 of "SNL." Fans caught on to Strong not appearing in the opening credits for the season premiere in October. However, at the time she made an appearance at "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and was unable to film the show in New York.

Strong already has her next project lined up. She will star in the second season of "Schmigadoon!" for Apple TV+. The show is also executive produced by "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels. She recently took a hiatus from "SNL" in order to film her role in the series.

Michaels also produced "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe." The stage production was written by Jane Wagner and performer by her now-wife, Lily Tomlin, in 1985.

Other cast members who recently have left "SNL" include comedians Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Pete Davidson. As reported by The Blast, Season 47 had the largest turnover of the "SNL" cast since 1995, giving way to an almost entirely new cast. Other exits after Season 47 wrapped included Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villasenor, and Aristotle Athari.

Strong has enjoyed a long and illustrious run on "SNL," and it looks like she has some good career prospects moving forward with her exit. It will be interesting to see where she lands next in her career.

Besides the upcoming season of "Schmigadoon!," Strong has also worked on "The Simpsons" and appeared in the 2016 "Ghostbusters" movie.