For the first time Aidy Bryant is speaking out about her reason for leaving Saturday Night Live — and we don’t think it’s going to come as all that much of a surprise.

For a while now, we speculated that one of the reasons for the fantastic retention rate of cast members the past few years was the global health crisis. With there being so much instability out there in the entertainment world, SNL represented a solid gig. It was around in many forms, and it gave everyone a home base through all the drama.

Speaking to Variety, Aidy herself confirmed that the virus did play a significant role in her staying — especially when it comes to her finding a way to have a proper send-off:

“If it weren’t for [the health crisis], I probably would have left a few years earlier … But it was such a huge change. When [the virus] hit [during Season 45], it was so jarring that we were all like, ‘I’m definitely going to come back next year.’ … I kept trying to seek one last normal year. This year wasn’t the normal year that I hoped for, but it was closer to that…. And 10 felt like a nice, solid round number.”

Bryant is leaving with a tremendous legacy as one of the most underrated cast members in the sketch show’s history. She was never viewed as the single breakout star but she stole SO many scenes and played such a fantastic range of characters. She could be incredibly obnoxious one sketch and 100% wholesome the next. We know that she already has one separate series project under her belt in Shrill (which she did at the same time as SNL), but we tend to think that she’s going to land some others.

Season 48 of SNL this fall is also going to be without Kate McKinnon, Kyle Mooney, and Pete Davidson — though we hope they all return in some form down the road.

Related – Get some more information on SNL right now

Are you going to miss having Aidy Bryant around as a cast member on Saturday Night Live?

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