Five days before the season premiere of its 38th season, Saturday Night Live announced a trio of newcomers who will fill out the cast after Kristin Wiig, Andy Samberg, and Abby Elliott departed the show. Aidy Bryant, Tim Robinson and Cecily Strong will be the new featured players when Seth MacFarlane and Frank Ocean headline this weekend. All three are veterans of the Chicago improv scene, including The Second City, fertile recruiting ground for the show since the days of John Belushi and Bill Murray.

Watch a clip of all three: READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Not another one! Andy Samberg has become the latest comedian to leave Saturday Night Live.

In an interview with the New York Times Friday, Samberg said he would not return in the fall. “It’s an incredibly emotional and strange moment in my life,” Samberg said. “Obviously it’s not a huge shock, but I did officially decide not to come back.”

Samberg joined NBC’s latenight show in 2005, where he became the go-to guy for creating brilliant viral videos. Together with collaborators Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, the three made the memorable “Lazy Sunday” rap video. Other Samberg creations that cracked the zeitgeist included two faux-music videos with Justin Timberlake that involved, um, mother-loving and certain male members packaged in the box. (Here’s the famous “D— in a Box” digital short, which launched Timberlake and Samberg’s comedy duo back in December 2006.)

Samberg, who is set to star in the upcoming film That’s My Boy opposite Adam Sandler, joins Kristen Wiig on the way out the door. “She kept saying it just feels like it’s her time,” he told the NYT. “I connect with that. Something about it just feels like it’s the moment. My contract’s up and I did so much more than I ever thought I would ever even do.”

For more:

Kristen Wiig: What are her post-SNL prospects?
How ‘D— in a Box’ became an Emmy winner