Bowen Yang is “Saturday Night Live”‘s biggest breakout star in years.

But after six seasons on the NBC show — playing everything from the Titanic’s iceberg to baby hippo Moo Deng — and a successful movie career, Yang was ready to leave, multiple sources told The Post.

By the time the curtain came down on the show’s 50th season on May 17, “Bowen was telling friends that it was his time,” said one well-placed industry insider. “He wanted to move on and was even planning to spend time in Japan… 16

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“People on the show told him to take the summer to think it over, but it looked like he was leaving and everyone was just waiting for the announcement.”

Lorne Michaels, however, had other plans.

“He talked to Lorne and [NBC] threw a ton of money at him” (to stay), the insider sai

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