South Park hasn’t lost any force over the years, and after the success of its most recent “events”, the show is getting more movies in the near future, and these are better for South Park’s future than more TV show seasons. Animated shows for a mature audience have gained force in recent years and are now more common in both TV and streaming platforms, and they have a lot to thank South Park for. Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park debuted on Comedy Central in 1997 and has since become widely popular thanks to its cutout animation style and its very dark humor, which has put the show in the middle of controversy many, many times.
Even though South Park has faced backlash and some of its episodes (and the show itself) have been banned in different countries, the show continues to be popular with viewers and shows no signs of stopping soon. South Park follows four kids – Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick – and their many, mostly disastrous, adventures in and around the titular Colorado town. South Park has stood out for its sexual content, graphic depictions of violence, profanity, surreal humor, and for addressing topics that almost always end up being controversial, and the writers never miss the chance to make fun or criticize ongoing political and social issues. South Park is now on its 25th season, and its future looks bright with more movies coming in the near future.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed a deal with Viacom CBS in 2021, guaranteeing South Park will make it to, at least, season 30, and with 14 TV movies (including hour-long specials) that will stream exclusively on Paramount+. In February 2022, Paramount+ revealed more details about its plans for those South Park movies, sharing that there will be two “events” streaming on the platform each year for the next six years, and new seasons will first stream on Paramount+ in 2024. South Park has found success in its movies/events, and these would be better for its future than more seasons of the show.
South Park season 24 was different from the rest as it’s formed by two extended episodes and two movies or “events”, making it the shortest season as it only has four “episodes”. This new format was very well-received by the audience, so South Park might now benefit more from movies than more seasons of the show. A longer format allows the writers to go bigger, which in South Park’s specific case is sometimes needed given the themes the show addresses and its type of humor, and gives them more time between projects to get more creative with storytelling. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the South Park “events” and the main series can’t coexist, as the show continues to be quite popular, but the movies can keep this unique world feeling fresher and would avoid saturating the audience with new episodes and seasons plus the movies.
South Park won’t run out of stories to tell as there’s always something going on in the world that the writers can pick to satirize, criticize, and adapt to the show’s style and the characters’ stories, but doing so in movies/events would be more beneficial to its future than more TV show seasons. Ultimately, the decision to focus only on movies, the show, or both will most likely depend on how well the upcoming movies are received, as well as how the transition to Paramount+ goes.