Veteran "Saturday Night Live" cast members Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah will not be returning to the late night sketch series for its 42nd season this fall.



Killam told Uproxx that while he had a year remaining in his contract, "SNL" declined to bring him back. "I don't know fully. I don't know the other side of it," he said of the decision. "You sign for seven years, so I had one more year. I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, but then heard they weren't going to pick up my contract. I was never given a reason why, really."



An NBC spokesperson confirmed Pharoah's departure as well, but did not give a reason behind it.



Killam has been with the show for six years, while Pharoah first joined the cast as a featured player in in 2010. Both have taken on major celebrity impressions over the years. Pharoah has played President Obama, Will Smith, and Jay-Z, while Killam impersonated Matthew McConaughey, Paul Ryan, Brad Pitt, and Donald Trump (though he ceded that to Darrell Hammond this past season).



Though the departure might sting, Killam has a project to keep him busy: directing Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Why We're Killing Gunther."



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