South Park Cuts Season 27 Short, Launches Season 28

South Park has unexpectedly concluded its 27th season after just five episodes, launching Season 28 with a premiere titled "Twisted Christian."

The sixth episode of the year, Season 28, Episode 1, premiered on Comedy Central on October 15. While Season 27 garnered strong ratings and sparked significant discussion, its release schedule became increasingly erratic. The first two episodes followed the standard weekly cadence, but the show then shifted to a biweekly schedule. The fifth and now-final episode of the season was further delayed, airing three weeks later on September 25.

Now, just three weeks later and without explanation, South Park has returned with Season 28. The initial expectation was for Season 27 to consist of 10 episodes. The new plan appears to be five episodes for Season 27 and five for Season 28. Future episodes are scheduled to air every two weeks through December 10, with dates set for October 29, November 12, November 26, and December 10.

Twisted Christian: Cartman is possessed and may be the key to stopping the Antichrist.

Watch an all-new episode of South Park tonight at 10/9c on Comedy Central and next day on Paramount+. pic.twitter.com/tSht6Emj6z

— South Park (@SouthPark) October 15, 2025

Comedy Central delayed the Season 27 finale mere hours before its scheduled airtime, with co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone taking full responsibility. "Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done," the duo told Variety. "This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and South Park fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!"

Parker and Stone produce each episode on a week-by-week basis, a process that creates a chaotic production schedule but allows for highly topical content. For Season 27, they had transitioned to a biweekly schedule, which provided more development time for each installment—a change reportedly favored by Paramount.

It's worth noting that during their San Diego Comic-Con 2025 panel, held the day after the Donald Trump-skewering Season 27 premiere aired, Parker admitted the pair were still uncertain about the next episode's topic, calling the decision-making process "super stressful."

The delay fueled speculation that the episode was pulled due to fears of backlash following the assassination of Donald Trump ally Charlie Kirk, who was shot at a Utah university on September 10. Comedy Central had previously pulled a scheduled rerun of Season 27, Episode 2, "Got a Nut," in which Eric Cartman cosplays as Charlie Kirk, becomes a right-wing podcaster, and parodies Kirk's past rhetoric while "masterdebaters" college graduates.

Kirk himself had responded to that episode in a TikTok post at the time, calling it "hilarious" and stating, "South Park gets this right. I think they've been watching a lot of Charlie Kirk videos." He added, "We have a good spirit about being made fun of. This is all a success, this is all a win. We as conservatives, we have thick skin, not thin skin, and you can make fun of us and it doesn’t matter."

Some MAGA conservatives later criticized South Park, drawing a connection between the show and Kirk's murder. However, in a new interview with The Denver Post, Matt Stone firmly denied any alleged censorship was involved in the delay, reiterating their prior statement.

"No one pulled the episode, no one censored us, and you know we’d say so if true," Stone said. "We just didn’t get it done. When you always cut it close, sometimes you mess up. That’s the price of being a procrastinator."

As for Season 28's premiere, the episode satirizes Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel and the '6 7' craze, while continuing the overarching storyline involving Trump and Satan's baby. Cartman, now obsessed with saying '6 7' like the other kids at South Park Elementary, is believed to be possessed by the Antichrist, and Peter Thiel seems to know how to handle it. Meanwhile, a disenfranchised school counselor, Jesus, endures a nightmarish double date as he grapples with PC Principal's interpretation of Christianity.