Saturday Night Live (SNL) has been seeing a lot of departures lately. Around the time that Pete Davidson announced his exit, it was also revealed that his fellow cast mate, Kate McKinnon, would not be sticking around beyond SNL’s 47th season either.
The New York native has shot to stardom since joining SNL 10 years ago. Over the years, McKinnon has been best known for her impressions of Justin Bieber, Ellen DeGeneres, Kellyanne Conway, Nancy Pelosi, Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And now that she’s leaving the show, it seems the actress already knows what she’s going to be doing next.
Kate McKinnon Has Been Making Strides In Her Career Outside SNL
When McKinnon was recently asked about leaving SNL prior to the announcement, she was coy about it. “Umm, gosh, it’s April,” the actress/comedian simply remarked. “It’s early.” But then, perhaps, in some ways, McKinnon’s exit from the show was more forthcoming. In recent years, she has successfully established herself as a true star, even outside of SNL, and everyone has noticed.
For instance, McKinnon has been pursuing a lot of film work while doing SNL lately, joining SNL alum Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Chris Hemsworth in Ghostbusters before doing the ensemble comedy Office Christmas Party with Jennifer Aniston, Olivia Munn, Jason Bateman, and another SNL alum, Vanessa Bayer.
More recently, McKinnon also starred as one of the titular characters in the miniseries Joe vs. Carol and joined the cast of the Netflix comedy flick The Bubble. In a way, it looked like the actress was preparing to make an exit, although she never made it sound that way. Or did she?
“I have some special stuff up my sleeves, and basically what I want to do is play characters,” McKinnon said when asked about her future plans. “I love my weirdos, and I would like to play my weirdos in different contexts, in more dramatic contexts or more narrative comedy contexts.”
What’s Next For Kate McKinnon After SNL?
Even prior to confirming her SNL exit, McKinnon was already hard at work on the upcoming animated film DC League of Super-Pets. Aside from the actress, the voice cast boasts of an all-star ensemble that includes Dwayne Johnson, Keanu Reeves, Kevin, Hart, Diego Luna, John Krasinski, and Bayer.
In the movie, McKinnon voices the evil guinea pig Lulu who kidnaps Superman (Krasinski), leaving it up to Superman’s dog, Krypto (Johnson), and his pals to save the day.
And while McKinnon herself hasn’t said anything about the movie, Hiram Garcia, Johnson’s producing partner on the film promises a lot of laughs thanks to the awesome cast. “Our actors are so talented,” he said. “As you can imagine, anytime you have anything that has DJ and Kevin in it doing what they do, you're going to have a blast with it. So I just think this perspective... I think it's going to provide a franchise and a view into this superhero world that really covers eight to 80.”
Aside from the animated film, McKinnon is also reuniting with Bombshell co-star Margot Robbie for the upcoming film Barbie from Greta Gerwig and partner Noah Baumbach. The cast also includes Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Will Ferrell, and Michael Cera.
While on The Late Show With Jimmy Fallon, McKinnon spoke a bit about how she came to be involved with the film while also revealing that she and Gerwig go way back. “A Greta Gerwig Barbie movie – I can’t believe my good fortune! I went to college with Greta, we lived in the same disgusting dorm suite,” the actress said. “The script is one of the greatest things I’ve ever read.” At the moment, the film’s plot is being kept under wraps. However, it has been confirmed that Robbie is playing Barbie while Gosling is playing Ken.
McKinnon Has Plenty Of New Projects Lined Up
Aside from these, McKinnon has also been attached to the upcoming film The Lunch Witch, which is based on a novel of the same name by Deb Lucke. It tells the story of Grunhilda who has inherited several magical recipes over the years. When everyone stopped believing in magic, however, she was forced to work as a school lunch lady. And while she has a tendency to scare everyone, Grunhilda eventually befriends a shy girl at school who may need her help.
The movie was first announced way back in 2016 and McKinnon is believed to be playing Grunhilda. So far, no other actors have been attached to the film. That said, it is worth noting that Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners is attached to produce the film. Meanwhile, Ben Stiller was once announced to be directing the movie. For now, however, it doesn’t seem like the comedian is still taking on the project.