For Only the Fifth Time in 29 Years, South Park Makes Big Change to Theme Song

September 20, 2026, 12:39pm

South Park has made a big change to its opening theme song for Season 29, and it’s only the fifth time that the regular theme song has been changed in such a way in 29 long years of the series. South Park was already getting a ton of interest ahead of its return this year as creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone had revealed that they were changing the name of the show to “South America” ahead of the new season’s premiere. And fans finally discovered what that really means.

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South Park Season 29 has officially premiered its first episode for the year, and with it revealed that the town has fully changed its name to “South America” for what is likely going to be the entire season. That’s even more evident by the fact that the theme song has gotten an overhaul as Primus’ Les Claypool returns to sing a new “South America” version of the classic theme. You can check it out below to really see how much has changed in this new season.

South Park Season 29 Debuts New South America Theme Song After Name Change

South Park Season 29’s debut episode, “South American Biker Gangs” made some big changes to the series after everything that happened in Seasons 27 and 28 seen last year. Not only was United States President Donald Trump’s presence reduced to just a single cameo seen with this new opening (after dominating the majority of the show last year), but the first episode was also a return to the town with a story focusing on the core four boys. And all throughout, fans saw just how much the town has been pushing its new “South America” name.

The characters in the episode are freely using South America as the name of the town without any real issue or pushback (which is also called out in the episode), landmarks and buildings like the police station and town hall have had their names changed, and overall it seemed like a full reset to a more classic feeling type of episode. This even went to the extent of killing off Kenny towards the episode’s end, and that’s something that hasn’t been done in earnest for quite some time at this point.

What Do These Changes Mean for South Park Season 29?

When it was first revealed that South Park would be changing its name to South America for this new season, it initially seemed like just a silly joke that Parker and Stone were making in reference to recent political events. But it was soon revealed to be going much deeper than fans might have expected as not only have episode listings on the series’ official website had been changed (including those that go way back), but promotional materials and more had changed as well. And with this new theme, it’s now apparent this is a major story we’re going to see for this new season.

South Park’s latest seasons have really gone all out in having an overarching story for the season overall, and this South America change seems to be the one that fans will see this year. It’s going to be a casual part of the town’s lives, but it remains to be seen whether or not this is going to be fully addressed by any of the characters (or a potential return from Trump) in the rest of the season. Make sure to catch up with it streaming with Paramount+ in the meantime.