Alec Baldwin wants out as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, for several reasons. He started the gig in 2016 and continued through the 2018-2019 SNL Season 44. However, he made it clear he doesn't want to return for Season 45. A big reason for that is family time. He has five children, four with wife Hilaria Thomas -- born in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018. They were expecting a fifth child together, but Hilaria revealed in April 2019 that she had a miscarriage.
Alec Baldwin explained that weekends are precious to him and being on SNL takes that away. Hence, he doesn't think he'll return for the 2019-2020 season.
I can't imagine I would do it again. I just can't. They should find somebody who wants to do it. They're all my dear friends and I love going there, but the other thing is that I'm going to go to work this fall in a way I haven't done in a while. My wife and I had a son a year ago, and since he was born, I've worked minimally because I wanted to be there for my wife and kids. But the party's over this fall and I'll be traveling. SNL just crushes my weekends, and now weekends are going to become much more precious to me because that's time with my kids.
Alec Baldwin does seem to have a lot of work projects lined up, from the documentary film Framing John DeLorean, to Motherless Booklyn, and Lamborghini – The Legend. He's also expected back for The Boss Baby 2, and there's talk that he'll be part of a live play version of A Few Good Men on NBC.
It also just sounds like Alec Baldwin is burnt out on playing Donald Trump. There are other actors who have played Trump over the years, since he's been a public figure for decades, long before he ran for and was elected president. Baldwin has faced both praise and criticism in the role, and he's perfectly happy to pass the baton to someone else.
Here's what Alec Baldwin said when USA Today asked who should play Donald Trump on SNL after him:
I don't know. Darrell Hammond did it and is a far better impressionist than I'll ever be. When Anthony Atamanuik (started impersonating Trump on Comedy Central's The President Show), all these people were attacking me, saying, 'Oh, your impression sucks and you suck. Please go away.' It also was something I thought to myself: 'I really don't have a lot invested in my Trump impersonation, so please find someone and convince Lorne (Michaels) to replace me.' I'm completely down with that. Winning the Emmy for that show aside, it was not some career goal of mine. So if (Atamanuik) wants the job, it's his. He can have it. I've done that. I mean, I had a lot of fun with (the cast), and when Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider wrote (Trump sketches in 2016 and 2017), that was new, it was fresh and the ratings were good. But I feel like I'm done with that now. I'm so done with that.
It sounds like the comparisons and criticism got under his skin a little bit, and he's not exactly territorial about the role so he'd be happy to let someone else have it. His Donald Trump impression was huge bigly news during the 2016 presidential election cycle, but it appears to have gone stale for him. He scaled back from the impression last year. Ratings have also dipped on SNL in the past season. So maybe he won't even bring his Trump back for the 2020 elections? We'll have to see.
Next up, Alec Baldwin will be the target of the next Comedy Central Roast, and that should be interesting. Are you sorry or glad to hear Baldwin is "so done" playing Trump on SNL? Do you think he'll return anyway? Who else will play Trump? It's not like they'd just skip the role completely. The devil that you know...
Saturday Night Live Season 45 is expected to premiere in late September 2019 on NBC, with or without Alec Baldwin or certain other cast members.
