South Park has been a lightning rod for controversy with its twenty-seventh season, and we don't just mean the storylines that involve Stan, Kenny, Kyle, and Cartman. With the future of the Comedy Central show originally in jeopardy thanks to a myriad of factors, Trey Parker and Matt Stone worked out their legal issues with Paramount behind the scenes. Despite the legal success, many animation fans are wondering if the series might be canceled in the face of its story controversies, causing a past interview to resurface where Stone and Parker talked about the potential series finale.
In 2015, the South Park creators sat down to talk with outlet IGN about how the story of South Park would end, injecting their traditional style of comedy into the mix. To start, Trey Parker confirmed that he believed the Comedy Central series would end quietly, "I think it's going to end with a fizzle, for sure. I think it's just going to end with some dud, and we're gonna go, 'F*** this, man,' and walk away. We've thought that for 18 years. We're like, 'Okay, well, they're going to cancel us, for sure!' We've been waiting to get canceled for 18 f***ing years."
Alongside Trey Parker, Matt Stone hilariously noted, "Some sort of whimper. Either drop the mic, get sued, get thrown off television -- something like that. We won't stop until we get canceled. We're renewing. They have to f***ing cancel us, goddammit!" Luckily, it doesn't appear as though we have to worry about South Park ending anytime soon.
Due to the licensing battle between the likes of Warner Bros, Paramount, and Park County, the original debut date for the twenty-seventh season of South Park was pushed back by several weeks. While the season would make its triumphant debut, each episode has been delayed so far, with the third episode doing the same. Luckily, the delays have only been weeks in length, with Parker and Stone needing a little more time to weave their hilarious premises for the small screen. The next episode will arrive on Wednesday, August 20th, on Comedy Central, with the installment hitting Paramount+ shortly after.
While many animation fans believed that Parker and Stone making fun of the current U.S. administration might result in a series cancellation, current Paramount CEO David Ellison showed his support for the South Park creators. Earlier this month, Ellison stated, "Matt and Trey are incredibly talented. They are equal opportunity offenders and always have been. I do not want to politicize our company in any way, shape, or form." Even if the creative duo does see their series canceled, Paramount would still be on the line to grant them their major payday all the same.
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