South Park Creators Finally Explain Why the Show Won’t Return Until After the Election: ‘Such a Mind Scramble’

Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision for Ubisoft/AP Images

Trey Parker and Matt Stone , the creators of South Park , confirmed in an interview that the long-running cartoon will be sitting out the 2024 election and won’t return until after it’s all over.

The pair granted an interview with Vanity Fair , published Thursday , while they promoted their new documentary ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! at the Telluride Film Festival. Naturally, since South Park is notorious for its social and political commentary since it debuted on Comedy Central in 1997, the subject of the presidential election came up. And Stone and Parker explained that the election simply won’t be a part of the upcoming season of the show. Stone said:

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, and it seems like it takes outsized importance. Obviously, it’s fucking important, but it kind of takes over everything and we just have less fun.

Stone added: “It’s just way more fun to be like, ‘Oh, Cartman’s going to dress up like a robot.'”

Parker said: “I don’t know what more we could possibly say about [former President Donald Trump ].” He also mentioned that the crew were “waiting for Paramount to figure all their shit out,” but didn’t elaborate. Paramount is currently in the midst of a massive business merger with Skydance.

The last season of South Park aired in 2023 and featured six episodes, while a handful of standalone specials — which addressed topics like DEI and Ozempic — streamed on Paramount+.