Viewers of Comedy Central can look forward to more episodes of South Park for the foreseeable future.
The show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, recently inked a new deal with ViacomCBS to produce an additional six seasons of South Park and develop 14 spinoff films for Paramount Plus, the studio’s burgeoning streaming service.
News of the deal, which will see Stone and Parker earn $900 million, was first reported by Bloomberg. While the upcoming six seasons will air on Comedy Central, the spinoff films will be a big feather in the cap of Paramount Plus.
The service, which rebranded earlier this year, is attempting to establish itself as a competitor to major services such as Netflix and Hulu.
While not much is known about plot lines in any of the upcoming productions, Stone and Parker say that the spinoff films will not follow the main cast of South Park.
Instead, the spinoff films will focus on secondary characters who are not normally a focus of the show’s regular episodes and entirely new characters. Although no release has been revealed yet, fans can expect the first spinoff film to premiere on Paramount Plus by the end of this year.
South Park is currently in its 23rd season, having completed 319 episodes and one feature film, 1999’s South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. The deal will bring the show into its 30th season and lasts until 2027.
In talking about the deal, Stone and Parker celebrated their excellent working relationship with executives at ViacomCBS, pointing out that the company has been very supportive of their ideas and vision for South Park.
Stone also lauded the upcoming streaming films. Stone says that the show’s creative team has not felt the need to do another film since Bigger, Longer, and Uncut because they have been able to do everything they want on the television series.
The advent of streaming services allows Stone and Parker to tell new stories in the world of South Park.
Fans of South Park will also be able to play as their favorite characters from the show in an upcoming video game from Stone and Parker’s own game studio, Park Country.
Ubisoft’s last two South Park games, The Stick of Truth and The Fractured but Whole, received strong critical praise, embracing some of the show’s zanier antics.
It is unclear if Park Country’s game will follow the plotline established in Ubisoft’s series or if it will follow a new story altogether.
Stone and Parker say that they are also working on a new Broadway musical set outside the South Park universe. Stone and Parker’s first musical, The Book of Mormon, became a cultural phenomenon when it premiered in 2011, winning several Tony and Grammy awards.
All 23 seasons of South Park are currently available for streaming exclusively on HBO Max. Given the upcoming streaming movies, entertainment industry insiders say that ViacomCBS will probably try to regain the rights to the show in the hopes of having the franchise’s entire catalog under one roof.
