South Park: Post Covid Special Will Arrive On Paramount+ For Thanksgiving
Back in August, "South Park" creators Trey Parker & Matt Stone struck a massive $900 million deal with MTV Entertainment Studios and ViacomCBS Inc. that not only renewed the raunchy animated series for five more seasons on Comedy Central but also locked in 14 spin-off movies that would be made exclusively available on Paramount+. While we're still waiting for a new season of "South Park" to come around, Parker & Stone aren't wasting any time hooking up Paramount+ with one of those spin-off movies, because the first one will be a "South Park: Post Covid" special that will arrive just in time to piss off your family on Thanksgiving.
South Park: Post Covid Special
The "South Park: Post Covid" special will debut on Paramount+ starting on November 25, 2021. Details on the story have yet to be revealed, but we're betting it will follow in the footsteps of the "South ParQ Vaccination Special" that aired on Comedy Central back in March this year, which followed the "South Park: Pandemic Special" from August of 2020. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if those specials inspired Viacom brass to come up with the deal for 14 spin-off movies, which will undoubtedly be more like extended episodes rather than actual spin-off movies. I'm betting the wording is a way for Viacom to get around the fact that they have an exclusive deal to send episodes of a traditional season of "South Park" to HBO Max.
Paramount+ is likely to pull in more subscribers once these "South Park" spin-off movies start hitting the service. After all, the "South ParQ Vaccination Special" raked in 3.5 million viewers, and the "South Park: Pandemic Special" earned an Emmy nomination and was the highest rated scripted broadcast of 2020. Those "South Park" fans are among the most loyal out there, which is why the show will continue through 2027 with the aforementioned new deal.
But what will Trey Parker & Matt Stone do when the pandemic isn't a hot button topic that's ripe for satire? Surely they'd need an idea big enough to justify what will amount to super-sized episodes. The duo have done multi-part serial episodes before, ranging from the "Imaginationland" trilogy to "Cartoon Wars." They even took a bite out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with "The Coon Trilogy." So I'd bet that whenever a larger idea like that comes along, they'll use those for Paramount+ and keep the series on Comedy Central more episodic (even though the show has had much more of a serial storytelling style in recent years).
Following the "South Park: Post Covid" special, Parker & Stone will deliver another spin-off movie for Paramount+ in December, though we haven't yet heard what the story for that one will be either. So stay tuned, and we'll keep you posted on all things "South Park."