Comedy Central today announced that the 27th season premiere of South Park has moved to Wednesday, July 23 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. A new teaser visual, set up like a class photo from South Park Elementary, proclaims: South Park Jesus Is Back! You can revisit the previously unveiled teaser trailer below.
The S27 launch was originally set for a July 9 broadcast launch, and the slight delay comes as South Park faces a questionable streaming future. With Skydance poised to acquire Comedy Central’s parent company Paramount Global (co-owner of South Park Digital Studios with series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone), and the show’s $500 million exclusive licensing deal with Max just expired, the future streaming home of Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny.
Paramount Global Co-CEO Chris McCarthy stated during an investors’ earnings call in May that “starting this July, [South Park] will be coming to Paramount+ in the U.S.” However, presumed non-exclusive streaming rights have been shopped around to other platforms and have received bids from both Max’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix, according to a letter written by an attorney for Parker and Stone’s prodco Park County to Skydance, RedBird Capital Partners and RedBird’s Chairman of Sports and Media, Jeff Shell, who has been tapped to become Paramount Global President if and when the acquisition goes through.
The letter threatens legal action for alleged interference in the show’s streaming negotiations, which includes an attempt to get WBD to agree to a shorter five-year agreements and new season pick-up after a 12-month Paramount+ exclusive window.
The series creators posted a statement on the proposed acquisition to X: “This merger is a sh–show and it’s f—ing up South Park. We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope fans get to see them somehow.”
Currently, all 26 seasons of South Park are available to watch on Max (soon to be revert-branded back to HBO Max) due to an extension arranged while negotiations continue.
The hit animated franchise, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022, debuted on Comedy Central on August 13, 1997. The characters were first seen in the animated short The Spirit of Christmas. Co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are executive producers, along with Anne Garefino and Frank C. Agnone II. Eric Stough, Adrien Beard, Bruce Howell and Vernon Chatman are producers. Christopher Brion is the Creative Director of South Park Digital Studios.
[Additional information from Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter]
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