Comedy Central
South Park returned with a vengeance this season, and the newest episode was slated to drop on September 17th. However, fans will have to wait to watch it after its creators managed to miss a deadline for just the second time in the history of the show.
August 13th marked the 27th anniversary of the day the first episode of South Park aired on Comedy Central, a development that sparked a bit of a moral panic while giving the network a hit that’s still going strong close to three decades after Matt Stone and Trey Parker unleashed their creation on an unsuspecting world.
There are a number of factors that set South Park apart from the many, many television shows that have come and gone over the course of its impressively lengthy run, which include the incredibly topical humor that has historically defined a good chunk of its episodes.
That can largely be traced back to an infamously hectic production process where each episode is whipped up in the span of a week—a recipe for chaos that was chronicled in the fantastic behind-the-scenes documentary 6 Days to Air.
That tight turnaround has been a staple since the show’s inception, and South Park has managed to post a nearly perfect track record when it comes to making sure the final product is submitted on time. However, the show has fallen victim to a very rare misstep in the midst of its 27th season.
Matt Stone and Trey Parker took the blame after South Park failed to finish an episode on time for the first time since 2013
The 27th season of South Park debuted on July 23, 2025, and the show has opted for a biweekly release schedule that has theoretically given its creators more time to complete each episode than they’re traditionally been accustomed to.
The fifth episode was scheduled to air on Wednesday night, but according to a statement Stone and Parker shared with Variety, that will not end up being the case after they simply ran out of time, saying:
“Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done. 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!”
This is only the second time an episode of South Park has failed to make its deadline. In 2013, a power outage in Los Angeles knocked out the computers that were being used to complete “Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers,” and the fourth episode of season 17 was subsequently delayed a week.
It’s unclear if Comedy Central will opt for a similarly adjusted release schedule pending the completion of the uncompleted installment, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.