"Saturday Night Live" cast members Brooks Wheelan, Noel Wells, and John Milhiser will not be returning to the show next season.
Wells was the first of the three to make the announcement--in a form of a joke--on Twitter: "Had a blast and loved every second of it. I'm totally honored to be able to make this next joke... FIRED FROM NEW YORK IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!"
Milhiser and Wells, who both joined the show as featured players last September, won't be returning as well.
An SNL representative told CNN that the show does not discuss the reason behind its casting changes.
The show is currently preparing for its 40th season. Producer Lorne Michaels said that they "still in the middle of a rebuilding," and that there will changes in the cast this year.
A few months ago, cast member Nasim Pedrad, who had been with the show for five seasons, said that she will be leaving the live comedy series to host the Michaels-produced Fox show "Mulaney," which features SNL writer John Mulaney.
Talking to Deadline about rebuilding the show, Michaels mentioned some big names that helped make the show a big hit: "We lost four leading men at the end of last season, Fred and Bill and Andy and Jason, all of whom were very seasoned, very strong cast. We lost Kristin the year before."
This is not the end of the road for the three axed cast members. Many comedians who didn't make the cut in the previous seasons became successful after the show--for instance Casey Wilson was dropped in 2009, but got a leading role in cult TV hit "Happy Endings." Michaela Watkins, who was also let go in the same year, now stars in hit ABC series "The Trophy Wife."
SNL is set to return on February 15, 2014. There will be a three-hour prime-time special in celebration of its 40th season on air.
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