Leslie Jones is leaving Saturday Night Live. Having been a part of the SNL team since 2014, Jones’ comedic journey with the famed late night sketch comedy series has gone on for five seasons. During this time, she’s grown into one of the program’s most popular cast members.
Jones had been working as an actor and comedian for decades prior to landing a spot on Saturday Night Live in 2014. After officially joining the comedy series, she became the oldest person ever to join the cast of SNL, at the age of 47. Since its early beginnings in 1975, SNL has helped shine the spotlight on a huge variety of comedic talent, with past alumni such as Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Will Ferrell, Chris Rock, Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig making huge names for themselves post-SNL. The sketch series has consistently proven itself to be one of the greatest methods of discovering new comedic talent in Hollywood, and Jones’ inclusion as a cast member has, to date, been a proven success that has helped to launch her career in a big way.
With five seasons of Saturday Night Live now behind her, however, Variety reports that Jones has confirmed that she won’t be returning to the comedy series for a sixth season. This year will mark 45 years of SNL, and as summer comes to a close and SNL prepares to kick off its new season in September, it’s not uncommon for cast members to make final decisions regarding their contracts with the hit NBC series.
Having made her decision not to return to Saturday Night Live, Jones will be capitalizing on the fame that the series has brought her over the course of the past five years. Her work as an actress has increased since 2014, with small but humorous roles in Chris Rock’s Top Ten, Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck and a substantial part in the 2016 female-led reboot of Ghostbusters, to name but a few of the comedian’s past projects. In fact, Jones was unwittingly thrust into the spotlight during the release of Ghostbusters, after racist trolls attacked her on social media. The incident prompted the star to take a break from Twitter. Since then, however, Jones’ star has continued to rise, and with an upcoming part in Eddie Murphy’s much anticipated Coming to America sequel as well as a stand up special set to air on Netflix in 2020, it looks like leaving SNL isn’t going to have any immediate negative effects on Jones’ career.
At the same time, however, it should be noted that not everyone who leaves Saturday Night Live for bigger and better things ends up achieving those objectives. In its 45-year history, a great number of stars have had huge success on SNL, only to see their prospects shrivel once they left. This isn’t to say that Jones will end up the same way, just that as with everything else in life, there’s always risk in new beginnings, even when things are currently looking bright. Lucky for her, Jones has proven herself to be a tough and confident talent who’s always ready to take on new challenges.
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Source: Variety
