Five South Park Episodes Kept Off HBO Max

The already impressive streaming roster of HBO Max grew by the size of a small Colorado town on Wednesday, as all 23 previous seasons of South Park were added to its lineup. Last fall, WarnerMedia struck a deal to acquire the exclusive South Park streaming rights, paying as much as $500 million to get them away from Hulu. Fans can now head to HBO Max to stream the entirety of the series, except for a handful of episodes that were left off due to their depiction of a religious figure.

Five episodes of the series are absent from the lineup on HBO Max, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise, seeing as how they weren't on the Hulu roster, either. These five episodes were actually pulled from broadcast after the initially aired.

The episodes in question are "Super Best Friends" from Season 5, both parts of "Cartoon Wars" from Season 10, and "200" and "201" from Season 14. Each of these episodes was removed for their depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. South Park Studios was reportedly on board with holding the episodes, a decision that was made before HBO Max acquired the rights to the series.

While these episodes have been censored from streaming, they are still available on the physical collections of their respective seasons. For example, if you look on a digital on-demand service like Vudu, you'll see just 12 episodes listed for South Park's 14th seasons. However, the back cover of the Blu-ray and DVD sets advertises 14 total episodes in the season. Of the five episodes missing from streaming, the only two available for purchase digitally are the "Cartoon Wars" episodes from Season 10.

With over 300 episodes of the series, South Park fans likely won't miss these five episodes too much. There are 23 full seasons now available to stream for free with a subscription to HBO Max, and the service will be adding the next three seasons at some point after they air. Comedy Central has renewed the series through 2020, so there will be no shortage of South Park anytime soon.

Are you looking forward to watching South Park on HBO Max? Let us know in the comments!