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South Park Returning 2025: Creators Out of Things to Say About Trump

Show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone explain why South Park is skipping the VP Kamala Harris/Donald Trump election and returning in 2025.

Published Fri, 06 Sep 2024 08:37:09 -0500

by Tom Chang

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To the disappointment of fans, South Park will go out of 2024 with what seems to be a whimper and opt to return in 2025 as creator Trey Parker told Vanity Fair (via Variety) they're "waiting for Paramount to figure all their s**t out." The latest that the longest-running animated cable series had this year was The End of Obesity, which premiered on May 24th, lampooning the weight loss drug Ozempic. The last official season was 26, like 25, with only six episodes in March 2023. Starting with season 24, creators Parker and Matt Stone, who voice all the male characters, have been sporadic with their releases, starting with "The Pandemic Special" in September 2020 before the March 2021 "South ParQ Vaccination Special" to reflect then the height of the COVID pandemic, which was followed by two specials in November and December of that year.

South Park Creators on Avoiding 2024 Election and 2025 Return

The other primary reason given was avoiding the upcoming 2024 presidential election between Vice President and Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris, taking over for incumbent President Joe Biden, who suspended his campaign amidst internal concerns, against GOP frontrunner former President Donald Trump. Parker and Stone told Vanity Fair they did so "on purpose" as they no longer have an interest in lampooning Trump on the show. As far as the "figuring their shit out goes," it likely alludes to Paramount Global's impending sale to Skydance, which is going for an estimated $8 billion.

To elaborate on the creative decision, Stone explained, "We've tried to do 'South Park' through four or five presidential elections, and it is such a hard thing to — it's such a mind scramble, and it seems like it takes outsized importance." "Obviously, it's fucking important, but it kind of takes over everything, and we just have less fun," Parker added. "I don't know what more we could possibly say about Trump." The 34-time convicted felon was the Republican frontrunner three straight times starting in 2016. For more, including the upcoming documentary rebuilding of their favorite Mexican restaurant, Casa Bonita, and the 25th anniversary of the series' lone theatrical film, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999), you can check out the rest of the Vanity Fair interview here.

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