Bowen Yang Repeatedly Refused SNL’s J.D. Vance Role—Lorne Michaels Insisted

Leading into Saturday Night Live‘s Season 50 premiere, speculation was rampant on who would be tapped to play Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance on the show.

On the heels of news that Maya Rudolph had agreed to return to the show to play Kamala Harris, a number of big name SNL alums were floated to play Vance in the public sphere, including Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis, and Aidy Bryant.

But while SNL boss Lorne Michaels brought in former cast members Andy Samberg and Dana Carvey to play Doug Emhoff and Joe Biden, he ended up casting one of his current cast members for the plum role of Vance: Bowen Yang.

But if you thought it was Yang who put himself forward for the role, you’d be wrong. In fact, at first he didn’t want it. In a new interview with Them magazine, the SNL star reveals that Lorne Michaels initially asked him to play Vance back in August, as casting rumors were swirling. 

Although Yang says he repeatedly refused the role, Michaels “insisted” that he was the right candidate for the job.

“Up until the show, I tapped [Michaels] on the shoulder and I was in the full beard and the full geish and I was like, ‘You can do a buyback if you want,’” Yang said.

Yang explained that he initially had trouble getting into Vance’s character because he found him to be “hollow.” Things clicked into place for him after he watched the filmed adaptation od Hillbilly Elegy–Vance’s memoir about growing up in Appalachia—and learned that Vance had questioned his sexuality when he was younger, but was quickly shot down by his “mawmaw.”

“I was just like, ‘Oh, this guy doesn’t have a personality because he’s never had the spine to claim it,’” Yang said of Vance.

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In addition to portraying the vice presidential candidate this season, Yang has played Charli XCX and Moo Deng. Come November 3, fans can also head to theaters to catch Yang in Wicked, where he’ll play Pfannee of Phan Hall, one of Glinda’s (Ariana Grande) college friends. 

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