While South Park season 27 might find a way to work around the election of Donald Trump, this is likely to be a struggle for the animated comedy’s creators. South Park has changed a lot since the anarchic, foul-mouthed cartoon comedy first aired in 1997. During its first few seasons, South Park was infamous for its violence, gore, swearing, and offensive humor. However, as the show continued, South Park pivoted to covering current events from a satirical perspective. Since every new episode of the series was written, animated, and released in only five days, this made perfect sense for the show.
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Unlike most TV shows, South Park could comment on new stories as they unfolded in real-time. South Park season 27 is expected to continue this approach, focusing more on real-life news than on its fictional characters. However, this might not be the case due to recent events. South Park season 27’s character comedy may be its focus as the show attempts to avoid discussing the biggest story in politics. According to a September 2024 interview with Vanity Fair, South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are sick of talking about one real-life politician in particular.
South Park Season 27 Is Unlikely To Feature Mr. Garrison’s Donald Trump
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According to Vanity Fair, Parker and Stone aren’t interested in centering South Parkseason 27 around Donald Trump. Parker said he couldn’t “What more we could possibly say” about Trump, and Stone agreed that focusing on characters like Cartman was more interesting than covering another presidential controversy. This led South Park’s creators to skip season 27’s projected 2024 release, as Parker and Stone knew an outing released in 2024 would need to focus on the election. Having nothing to say about Donald Trump could be a problem for South Park’s creators given the politician’s role in the show.
South Park used the character Mr. Garrison as a stand-in for Donald Trump. ✕ Remove Ads
From the moment Donald Trump announced his campaign in 2015, South Park used the character Mr. Garrison as a stand-in for the divisive candidate. This proved successful throughout Trump’s campaign, with Garrison’s outrageous comments mirroring the candidate’s famous public statements. However, things took a turn when Trump won the 2016 election. South Park’s creators admitted that they expected Hillary Clinton to emerge victorious, meaning season 20’s serialized storyline became messy and unclear in its final episodes. South Park season 21 used Mr. Garrison’s Trump to shape the season’s events, fixing this issue and giving the show a renewed sense of focus.
South Park’s Donald Trump Stand-In Mr. Garrison Shaped Seasons 20-24
Mr. Garrison Acted As South Park’s Version of Trump For Years
While Garrison’s Trump wasn’t perfect, he did provide South Park with a recurring storyline to return to repeatedly throughout his tenure. Garrison was already well-established before South Park made him their Trump stand-in, so it was easy for the character to transition into this new role without the show ruining his original existing persona. Garrison’s version of Trump appeared in almost every episode of seasons 21, 22, and 23, as well as playing a major role in season 24’s “South ParQ Vaccination Special.” In contrast, he appeared sparingly in seasons 25 and 26, resulting in a lack of focus.
South Park seasons 25 and 26 didn’t feature Joe Biden and felt unmoored without Garrison’s version of Trump.
This is reflected in the reception of seasons 25 and 26, which were criticized for both their brevity and their scattershot writing style. While one episode would center on gentrification, the next would be about Russia and Ukraine’s conflict. Where the next episode might be a zany adventure about Airsoft, the next was a misguided satire of cultural appropriation. South Park seasons 25 and 26 didn’t feature Joe Biden and, without a central figure like Garrison’s version of Trump, the show’s political satire felt unmoored. There were many broad satirical swipes, but no cohesive focus like Garrison provided during Trump’s first presidency.
South Park Season 27 Needs To Replace Mr. Garrison’s Trump
Joe Biden Was Never Directly Parodied In Seasons 25 and 26
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It is surprising to see that Joe Biden never appeared on South Park during his presidency, considering Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton all had multiple episodes devoted to them in earlier terms. What is clear is that this came at a cost to the series, with specials like 2023’s “Not Suitable For Children” spoofing disparate topics such as OnlyFans and energy drinks in a way that felt loose, shapeless, and satirically vague. While avoiding the election was a smart decision for South Park season 27 after season 20’s ending, it is hard to see how the upcoming outing will work.
If South Park season 27 does not replace Garrison’s Trump, the show will have no fulcrum to center its political satire. South Park’s season 26 finale, “Spring Break,” seemingly acknowledged this with an extended gag about Garrison going on vacation with his partner. Although his love interest wanted a simple, relaxing trip, Garrison could not resist secretly sneaking out at night and campaigning. The episode ends with Garrison’s partner demanding that he retire his Republican political alter ego and Garrison winkingly telling viewers they would need to wait and see what happens in the coming months, alluding to the next year’s election.
What South Park Season 27 Will Focus On Instead of Donald Trump
South Park’s 2024 Special Centered On Ozempic
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Now that the 2024 election has been and gone, it is clear that South Park season 27 needs something substantial to wrap its storyline around. Otherwise, the outing is likely to suffer from the lack of cohesive storytelling found in seasons 25 and 26. South Park’s latest special, 2024’s The End of Obesity, featured some surprisingly smart, perceptive satire of the American healthcare system. However, the show can’t focus an entire season on the Ozempic craze, since this is too insular and specific an issue to sustain even six episodes of the series. South Park needs a more universal storyline.
South Park season 27 is expected to begin airing in 2025.
Earlier seasons of South Park didn’t have this problem, as the show took on a variety of issues from week to week without an overarching serialized story connecting them. It was Garrison’s time as Trump that gave South Park a recurring character, outside the central gang of kids, who was central to the narrative. If season 27 doesn’t bring back Garrison’s Trump, the series needs to offer an alternative. Otherwise, South Park’s next outing risks feeling as loose, aimless, and hollow as seasons 25 and 26 did when the show did not have Garrison’s Trump to anchor its satirical points.
Source: Vanity Fair