South Park Announces Surprising Delay Following Controversial Episode

South Park’s twenty-seventh season has been making quite a few headlines, and for good reason. Taking its first two episodes to comment on current world events, Trey Parker and Matt Stone haven’t missed a beat when it comes to telling the raunchy, sometimes thoughtful, story of Stan, Kenny, Kyle, and Cartman. While the latest season has been scoring big numbers in the ratings department, it has also suffered from quite a few delays, and it’s unfortunate that we have to report that another delay has been announced for the upcoming third episode of season twenty-seven.

The turnaround time for South Park episodes has become something of a legend at this point, with Parker and Stone stating in the past that they could still be working on the latest episode hours before it airs. For the third episode that was originally scheduled to air later tonight, Wednesday, August 13th, the upcoming installment has been pushed back one week for yet unknown reasons. Luckily, Paramount has thought of a worthwhile replacement as the studio has announced today to be “South Park Day” and has a marathon running of the beloved animated series. For the 10 PM Eastern timeslot, the first episode of the series will be played in the new episode’s stead, taking fans back all the way to 1997 when the show first landed. As it stands, fans will only have to wait until August 20th to return to the land of South Park.

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South Park Season 27 has been riddled with delays, the first taking place before the premiere even arrived on Comedy Central and Paramount+. Earlier this year, Skydance and the South Park creators were in a legal battle for the future of the series, with HBO Max and Paramount+ in a battle of their own for the streaming rights. The latest season was originally meant to air earlier in July, but was pushed back to July 23rd due to the legal battles taking place behind the scenes. With the new deal struck that nets Trey Parker and Matt Stone $1.5 billion USD for the next five years, South Park fans have at least fifty new episodes to look forward to.

As for the delays themselves, it makes sense that the creators might need some extra time to work on each installment. Parker and Stone’s methodology is such that individual episodes can comment on events that took place in the world that same week, but to do this, it means the animators have to finish the episode right up to the wire. Considering how long animation fans waited for a legitimate new season of South Park, rather than simply a special and/or film, waiting an additional week or two for a new episode isn’t that much of a stretch.

The Controversy of South Park

Parker and Stone wasted little time in reminding people that South Park was back, with the twenty-seventh season immediately digging at the current United States administration. Depicting U.S. President Donald Trump in quite a controversial manner, the South Park creators didn’t stop there, as episode two focused on I.C.E. director Kristi Noem and Mr. Mackey’s new role as one of her underlings. Needless to say, the Comedy Central series has been making quite a few headlines in recent days that are well-deserved, with one of the most recent being the wildly unbelievable post-credits scene of “Got a Nut.”

Recently, new Paramount CEO David Ellison backed Parker and Stone and their recent approach, referring to them as “equal opportunity offenders,” as he 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.” The South Park creators might be putting Ellison’s support to the test this season if the first two episodes are any indication, and while the story of the third episode remains a mystery, we can confidently predict it will continue leaning into the subject matter of season twenty-seven’s first two installments.

Want to stay in the loop when it comes to Comedy Central’s animated sleepy Colorado town? Follow along with ComicBook.com for the latest updates on South Park and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

Via The Hollywood Reporter