Although characters killed off permanently by South Park include major ing stars like Chef and Pip, minor figures like Ms. Choksondik and Veronica Crabtree, and countless one-off guest stars. However, South Park doesn’t always kill off characters when the show decides to retire them. Sometimes, they are simply written out of the series over time without much fanfare.

In the run-up to South Park season 27’s release date has been pushed off until 2025 seems to reaffirm that Trump isn’t a major concern for the show’s writers. However, another comment implicitly clarified South Park’s plans for the character.

South Park Season 27’s Delays Prove Mr. Garrison's Trump Is Over

Co-creator Matt Stone Called Election Coverage “Less Fun”

Since the politician first announced he was running for office back in 2015, South Park has consistently used Mr. Garrison as a stand-in for Trump. This made sense throughout seasons 19 and 20, when the outspoken Garrison took the eponymous town, and later America, by storm with his outrageous commentary. More of a shock jock than a conventional politician, Garrison was his bawdy, politically incorrect self, and South Park used his character to spoof Trump’s controversial comments on the campaign trail. However, Garrison’s South Park role became vastly more complicated overnight when Trump unexpectedly won the 2016 election and broke this system.

It was no shock when South Park’s co-creators told VanityFair in September 2024 that they had nothing more to say about Trump.

The crude Garrison worked as a Trump equivalent during his campaign, but not during his presidency. It became harder for South Park to clarify where the differences between the two figures lay, making it tougher for the show to effectively satirize Trump himself. Not every South Park storyline works, so it was no shock when South Park’s co-creators told VanityFair in September 2024 that they had nothing more to say about Trump. This appears to imply that, despite what was threatened in season 26’s finale, Mr. Garrison’s role as the president’s stand-in may finally come to an end.

South Park's Season 26 Finale Hinted At This Possibility

Garrison's Trump Made A Brief Reappearance In "Spring Break”

South Park’s season 26 finale “Spring Break” teased the possibility of Garrison’s Trump returning after a multiple-year absence following Biden’s 2020 election win. In “Spring Break,” Garrison repeatedly snuck away from his spring break getaway to campaign through the night with his rowdy ers. Garrison’s love interest didn’t appreciate this unhealthy habit and South Park comically depicted Garrison’s addiction to campaigning as if it were a secret love affair or drug habit. However, South Park never clarified whether Garrison’s take on Trump would actually return in earnest, with the character slyly saying that viewers would have to wait and find out.

in a VanityFair interview, Trey Parker said “I don’t know what more we could possibly say about Trump."

Now, South Park’s weirdest political parody seems set to come to an end despite Trump’s return to the media spotlight. Since South Park season 27 is deliberately avoiding the 2024 election, it looks like the show has no plans to focus on Trump even if he wins. South Park’s creators have run out of Trump storylines and itted as much in their VanityFair interview, questioning whether there was anything left to say about the hotly debated politician. South Park is right to drop Garrison’s Trump, since the character never worked all that well due to his divergent personality.

South Park Season 27 Seems Destined To Retire Mr. Garrison’s Trump

South Park’s Trump Parody Is Irrelevant Regardless Of 2024’s Election Outcome

Throughout Trump’s first term in office, Mr. Garrison was simultaneously the same goofy character viewers knew from South Park seasons 1-18 and the President of the United States. This didn’t work for South Park, since it blunted the show’s jabs at Trump’s istration and also meant the series was deprived of a classic ing star. Some of South Park’s best episodes focused on Garrison before he became a Trump stand-in, so it was strange to see the character taken out of his small town home and thrown into perpetual political drama. This issue explains South Park’s season 24-26 approach.

After Trump’s presidency ended, South Park reinstated Mr. Garrison as a teacher in the titular town’s school and deliberately ignored this plot's obvious disconnect. South Park was right to forget Garrison’s time as Trump throughout seasons 24-26 and the series moved on from this awkward period by playing down Trump’s role in the show. Until “Spring Break,” viewers might reasonably have forgotten about Garrison’s multi-season tenure as the president. However, season 26’s finale proved that South Park’s co-creators knew they couldn’t ignore one of the country’s most famous political figures. South Park's new release strategy could fix this issue.

Retiring Mr. Garrison’s Trump Parody Makes Sense For South Park’s Future

South Park’s Specials Allow Matt Stone And Trey Parker More Creative Freedom

In recent years, South Park has moved away from the show’s focus on timely political events and focused on more feature-length specials. Since ordinary South Park episodes are written, produced, and animated in the days before they air, the show is expected to comment on contemporary events as they unfold in real-time. In contrast, specials like South Park: The End of Obesity can offer more cohesive, nuanced satirical stories, since they are afforded more time, focus, and attention. South Park’s co-creators benefitted from centering long-form stories since 2021, so Stone and Parker are wise to keep this streak alive.

While not all of South Park’s specials work, they do represent a new era for the series.

By avoiding 2024’s election cycle, South Park can now focus more on bigger stories and less on individual political figures. This suits the show’s scattershot satirical writing style, allowing the creators to center on topics like diversity in media, obesity drugs, NFTs, streaming platforms, and whatever else they have a hot take on in a given year. While not all of South Park’s specials work, they do represent a new era for the series. In contrast, bringing back Garrison’s version of Trump would have unavoidably represented a step back for South Park, so the show’s creators made the right call.

Source: VanityFair