It has never been easy for shows to maintain their quality as they continue to grow and expand. Many shows begin to fade once the season tally hits double digits due to a lack of nuanced ideas. Alongside The Simpsons, South Park has never had to face these troubles with a total of 24 seasons dripping with quality. Now, according to Deadline, the creators of the show, Matt Stone and Trey Parker (Team America: World Police), have reached a deal with ViacomCBS to extend the series through its 30th installment.
The new deal will keep South Park on Comedy Central through 2027. The creators will also produce 14 movies, two releasing each year starting 2021, for Paramount+. This is a tall task for Stone and Parker, who are both now in their 50’s, and ViacomCBS knew it as the deal is reportedly around $900 million. This would make it one of the most lucrative renewals ever for a creative team.
In a statement obtained by Deadline, the CCO of Adult-Animation for Paramount+, Chris McCarthy said, “Matt and Trey are world-class creatives who brilliantly use their outrageous humor to skewer the absurdities of our culture and we are excited to expand and deepen our long relationship with them to help fuel Paramount+ and Comedy Central.”
Parker and Stone sang their praises of the deal in a statement obtained by Deadline. “Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we’re really happy that they’ve made a commitment to us for the next 75 years,” they joked. “When we came to ViacomCBS with a different way to produce the show during the pandemic, Chris (McCarthy), Nina (Diaz), Keyes (Hill-Edgar) and Tanya (Giles) were immediately supportive and enabled us to try something new that turned out to be really well received. We can’t wait to get back to doing traditional South Park episodes but now we can also try out new formats. It’s great to have partners who will always take a chance with us.”
The chance that ViacomCBS took on them during the pandemic was a major hit. As the new deal comes into effect this year, South Park is on a hot streak. Their first pandemic special, the Emmy-nominated Pandemic Special, was cable’s number one scripted telecast of 2020. The second special, South ParQ Vaccination Special, is currently the top telecast of 2021 with 3.5 million viewers tuning in.
The new deal goes into effect right away so be on the lookout for more information on the new content from Stone and Parker.