Smiling Friends Creators Already Know When They Want to End the Show

Smiling Friends is one of the most popular new additions to Adult Swim in recent memory, but it turns out that the creators behind it all already know when they want to bring it all to an end. Smiling Friends first made its debut with Adult Swim as part of an April Fool’s Day stunt premiering some pilots for a lot of the new projects the network had in the works. The pilot was such a hit with fans that it was picked up for a full series soon after, and even premiered its first season over the course of a single evening as part of a surprise event.

That success with fans have brought Smiling Friends back for a second season, and a third is currently scheduled for a release later this Fall. It was also announced during a special panel for the animated series as part of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival that not only is Smiling Friends coming back for Season 3 later this Fall but it is coming back for Seasons 4 and 5 as well. But upon sharing the announcement, Smiling Friends co-creator Zach Hadel took to social media to share his and co-creator Michael Cusack’s thoughts on the series’ future.

How Long Will Smiling Friends Last?

With Smiling Friends announcing it was renewed with Adult Swim through Seasons 4 and 5, Hadel opened about how long the show will last, “[Michael Cusack] and i decided very early on we didn’t want the show to overstay its welcome or get stale, and we intend to stick by that. i don’t know how long we’ll go on for, but i’m really proud of what we’ve created and i’m excited for everyone to see what’s in store for this season.” Hadel’s statement then continued with, “[B]ig thanks to our hardworking creative team who work tirelessly to make the show as good as it can be, the network for allowing us to make the show we want to make, and everyone out there for even watching this slop in the first place.”

Smiling Friends has been such a hit with Adult Swim that fans had expected the series to be renewed for more episodes, but these two additional seasons help to really hammer home that it’s a confident hit with Adult Swim as well. But as the creators approach what’s coming next, it seems that they also don’t want to run as long as some of the other successes with Adult Swim like perhaps Rick and Morty, which has recently been renewed up through Season 12.

RELATED: Primal Creator Shares Season 3 Release Update (& It’s Going to Be a Long Wait)

When Does Smiling Friends Season 3 Come Out?

Smiling Friends Season 3 will be making its premiere with Adult Swim later this Fall, but has yet to confirm a concrete release date as of the time of this publication. Speaking about its production earlier this year with ComicBook, co-creator Michael Cusack offered a promising update on how the new episodes were coming along, “Seeing as we’ve had two seasons to work up to this, we know the characters so much more now. It’s going really well. I’m trying to be careful not to spoil anything, but I won’t because I’m a professional.”

Continuing further Cusack stated about the coming season, “But, no. It’s good. It’s going very, very well. Zach [Hadel] and I are writing, and we’re in production. YOLO doesn’t slow it down at all because I can go back and forth. I can run between shows very quickly. So, we’re going well.”