South Park season 27 moves its premiere date to July 23 as new episodes promise ketamine chaos, war with Canada, and sky-high satire.
South Park fans will have to wait just a little bit longer for the next batch of absurdity. Paramount has confirmed that the Season 27 premiere of the long-running animated comedy has been delayed by two weeks, shifting its release from July 9 to July 23 as Comedy Central navigates an increasingly complicated web of streaming rights tied to the series. While fans were ready for the long-awaited return of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny, and even Jesus, the latest delay stems from turmoil surrounding the proposed Skydance acquisition of Paramount Global, which co-owns South Park Digital Studios alongside series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
In a fiery response, Parker and Stone didn’t hold back, posting on X: “This merger is a shtshow and it’s fcking with up South Park. We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.” Their frustration highlights the chaos behind the scenes, as South Park’s $500 million streaming deal with HBO Max recently expired, and Paramount Global now aims to bring the series to Paramount+. However, negotiations have been anything but smooth. Legal threats, platform bidding wars, and the lack of a new exclusive agreement have only deepened the uncertainty surrounding where South Park will live in the streaming ecosystem. While Max continues to host the first 26 seasons for now, Paramount+ is still expected to stream the new episodes once they premiere on Comedy Central.
— South Park (@SouthPark) July 2, 2025
While the delay may disappoint some eager viewers, the upcoming season promises to be well worth the wait. According to a teaser trailer released in April, Season 27 will dive headfirst into typically outrageous South Park territory—featuring ketamine use, a bloody war with Canada, violent plumbing disasters, a space-bound Diddy, and air traffic control mayhem.
With creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone once again leading the charge, fans can expect the show’s signature brand of fearless satire and unapologetic humor to be firing on all cylinders. The pair has built a legacy on poking fun at society’s most pressing (and ridiculous) issues, and this new season seems to continue that tradition.
Season 26, which aired in March 2023, only delivered six episodes and notably skipped the 2024 presidential election—a topic the show has lampooned in many past seasons. The creators say that choice was intentional. “We’ve tried to do South Park through four or five presidential elections, and it is such a hard thing to — it’s such a mind scramble,” said Stone. Parker added, “It kind of takes over everything and we just have less fun. I don’t know what more we could possibly say about Trump.”
Behind the scenes, Parker and Stone serve as executive producers alongside Anne Garefino and Frank C. Agnone II. Additional producers include Adrien Beard, Bruce Howell, and Vernon Chatman, with Eric Stough also contributing and Christopher Brion serving as creative director for South Park Digital Studios.
As always, South Park isn’t just back—it’s coming in hot.
