Melissa Villaseñor, a cast member on NBC’s long-running sketch series, Saturday Night Live, has commented via Twitter on her series departure. This statement comes after the announcement from Deadline that Villaseñor, Alex Moffat, and Aristotle Athari would not return as cast members on Season 48 of SNL. The news followed a news announcement in May, which revealed that legacy performers Aidy Bryant (Shrill), Pete Davidson (The Rookie), Kate McKinnon (Bombshell), and Kyle Mooney (Bob’s Burgers) would not return for the upcoming season.
“Oh my sweetie fans, my Melissa monsters, I know ‘thas sah’ me leaving the show, but! I felt this was my soul telling me it’s time to spread my wings,” Villaseñor shared on Twitter last night. “Lots more for me to dig in and discover. What an honor to experience my kid dream… forever grateful.”
Aside from SNL, Villaseñor’s recent credits include roles in Steven Brill’s Hubie Halloween, Comedy Central’s Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, HBO’s Barry, and Freeform’s Alone Together. In addition to on-camera work, Villaseñor has established several voice credits, including work on Disney shows Amphibia and The Chicken Squad, Paramount+’s Star Trek: Prodigy, HBO Max’s Ten Year Old Tom, Netflix’s Q-Force, and AMC+’s Ultra City Smiths.
In late October, Villaseñor will begin a comedy tour in San Francisco and stop in various cities across the United States, including Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia. She also hosts a podcast, Laughing With Myself, which is produced and distributed by All Things Comedy.
On what she’ll do next, Villaseñor shared, “I am gonna be proud for a while, travel, enjoy life, do more volunteer work, spend time with my family, from there art blooms.”