Devon Walker Is Leaving ‘Toxic as Hell’ ‘Saturday Night Live’
Our top candidate for the Saturday Night Live cast’s annual off-season exodus just crossed his own name off the list, saying that his time on the show was both “really cool” and “toxic as hell” on his way out.
Back in 2022, stand-up comedian and TV writer Devon Walker joined the cast of Saturday Night Live Season 48 as a featured player. Through his spirited appearances on "Weekend Update" and his earnestly engaging stage demeanor, Walker became a minor star among the show’s fandom over the following years and even made it to the hallowed repertory cast last offseason — only for SNL Season 50 to completely forget that Walker both A) exists, and B) is so much funnier than more overexposed stars who will presumably stick around for Season 51.
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Given his puzzling lack of stage time and his success in stand-up comedy, Walker was an obvious choice for our most likely to leave list back at the beginning of the summer, and, earlier today, Walker announced that he is leaving SNL behind to pursue other projects — specifically, he’s “trying to be in a prestige drama. Ideally something with Julianne Moore.”
While Walker isn’t shy about acknowledging the toxicity and dysfunction of life at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, he clearly doesn’t have too many hard feelings about his time at SNL, especially because of how it allowed him to continue working with his longtime collaborators, comedians Alex English and Gary Richardson. But, ultimately, not all “little marriages” in show business are meant to last, and hanging out with your friends in the most stressful workplace in comedy is only worth it when Lorne Michaels actually lets you be funny.
Walker’s contemporaries were quick to congratulate and comfort him on what is always a bittersweet career move in leaving Saturday Night Live, with comedian Ron Funches chiming in to tell the stand-up, “Onward and upwards. Congratulations on the great work.”
SNL host and TV comedy queen Quinta Brunson dropped a simple, “Devon!!!” in the comments.
Walker’s SNL co-star Chloe Fineman also said her goodbyes underneath his departure post, writing, “I’ll miss being your pregnant wife all the time!!!!!”
At the time of publication, Julianne Moore hasn’t yet commented on Walker’s newfound availability, but we’ll give her some time to get a few scripts together before she makes her move.