‘Saturday Night Live’: Kenan Thompson returning for season 41

This is around the time of the year when we start to hear the whispers regarding “Saturday Night Live” and the future for some certain cast members moving forward; therefore, we are not too surprised that there have been questions aplenty on the fate of a certain Kenan Thompson.

However, at the same time the show’s longest-tenured cast member is making it not very clear that in spite of the rumors, he really has no plan to move on. Speaking in an interview with Marc Maron on the WTF podcast, Thompson made it clear that he never said that this season was going to be the last one for him, and that was more something that was brought up and perpetuated by the media even in spite of his denial:

“Well [the media] said [that I was leaving] for some reason. People I guess thought they had some info and just threw that story out. And we denied it immediately, but the only thing people remember is [the original story].”

Does the show still need Kenan? While we understand that it would be nice to have some other voices on the series eventually, he does still do a whole lot right. He is a high-energy part of the cast, and while some of his characters like Willie, Jean K. Jean, or DeAndre Cole may not be popular with some of the diehard “SNL” fans, they are appreciated and even beloved by some casual viewers. He appeals well to a mass audience, and that includes people who watch the show weekly and never tweet about.

Granted, we’ll always have a spot in our heart for Kenan, given that he was a part of “Kenan & Kel,” one of our favorite shows growing up.

If you did not see our review for this past episode of “SNL,” head over to the link here. Also, sign up right now to acquire some further TV updates on everything we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)