"South Park" is acting weird, and not in its usual, funny way.
The show went from being a major, beloved hit for people on both sides of the aisle to one that many on the right have gotten fed up with due to its constant anti-Trump messaging that too often ventured into uninspired territory.
Now, according to Variety, "South Park" abruptly ended its 27th season after only five episodes with no explanation given. Not that the show has gone away. It recently aired what would've been episode six of season 27, and instead made it episode one of season 28:
In an abrupt turn of events, the short-lived Season 27 has ended after just five episodes, instead of the previously determined 10, a spokesperson for Comedy Central confirmed. No details were provided as to why. Wednesday’s Season 28 premiere saw South Park Elementary enveloped in the “6-7” TikTok trend, and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel thinks the Antichrist is to blame.
This comes after the show was delayed from releasing its sixth episode, and its fifth episode, "Got a Nut," was pulled, both shortly after Charlie Kirk's murder. According to the Los Angeles Times, "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker denied the delay was due to Charlie's death.
Rumors are obviously flying around as to why the season was abruptly ended. According to The Direct, the reason is to help "South Park's" 30th season align with its 30th anniversary in 2027:
The reason behind Season 27's sudden end this week is likely to help align South Park's upcoming Season 30 with the show's 30th anniversary.
In 2027, the series will celebrate 30 years on the air. If it can get Seasons 27 and 28 out of the way now, followed by Season 29 next year, then Season 30 will align with the show's 30th anniversary.
South Park was previously on pace to hit its 30th anniversary with Season 30, but with no new episodes in 2020, it fell behind. This could be a way to get things back on track, setting up an epic celebration of the beloved satire in a couple of years.
Maybe, but none of that was actually confirmed.
I think it's odd that this all happened after Charlie's murder, leading me to believe that "South Park" was working toward a narrative switch. While they're still making fun of Trump and JD Vance, Cartman has now gone from being a representation of Charlie Kirk to a kid that Peter Thiel thinks is possessed by the devil due to his obsession with the phrase "6-7," a real-life TikTok trend Gen Alpha is obsessing over.
Twisted Christian: Cartman is possessed and may be the key to stopping the Antichrist.
— South Park (@SouthPark) October 15, 2025
Watch an all-new episode of South Park tonight at 10/9c on Comedy Central and next day on Paramount+. pic.twitter.com/tSht6Emj6z
The joke, as Variety explains it, is Theil's lectures revolving around religion and the tech industry:
Thiel recently made headlines after the Washington Post published the contents of his invite-only, off-record lectures on religion and the tech industry. Across the four, roughly two-hour-long talks, the venture capitalist accused Greta Thunberg as well as all those who are critical of the rapid development of artificial intelligence of being “legionnaires of the Antichrist.”
But if you're asking my theory as to why the a sudden shift in seasons?
I think Stone and Parker had a plan that went awry after Charlie's murder, and a narrative reset was called for. While it doesn't mean they'd stop making fun of the Trump administration altogether, the duo needed to switch gears and begin pulling away from some of the jokes they were making. With a new season, they can effectively push the old one away and begin new, fresh jokes.
It's unclear how the ratings for the show were going at that point. The last data that was given about the show was mid-August, as Deadline reported the show was seeing growth after the first episode of season 27 aired:
The second episode of Season 27 drew 6.2M global multi-platform viewers across Comedy Central and Paramount+ in its first three days, Paramount Global said Wednesday. That’s a slight uptick from the premiere episode, which reached nearly 6M viewers in the same time frame.
Paramount says that global streaming consumption of the long-running series from Trey Parker and Matt Stone has grown double digits in the first three days of Episode 2702’s release, up 49% from the same period of streaming for the series post-premiere.
However, as has been observed, the anti-Trump jokes were getting stale for many, and I suspect the show had some drop-off after episode three. I don't imagine we'll get much of an explanation as to the sudden change for season 27 any time soon, but I have a feeling this is about more than matching up with a 30th anniversary.
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