It’s extremely rare for a series to evolve to South Park’s degree. Debuting back in 1997 as a crude experiment with minimal expectations, South Park has been able to gradually mature into one of the most fearless and intelligent satires on television, whether animated or otherwise. South Park has more than 300 episodes under its belt and a lengthy renewal guarantees that it will continue to dominate as one of the top adult animated series for years to come.
The past year has triggered some important changes for South Park, including a new commitment to 14 “movies” that will air on Paramount+, with the first set to hit just in time for Thanksgiving. It’s exciting to finally have new South Park content on the way, but there are also many questions that surround this new holiday special.
8 It's Probably Not Going To Revolve Around Thanksgiving
South Park: Post Covid is dropping on Thanksgiving, which means that it will make for the perfect unconventional content to watch with family and friends. South Park has regularly used holidays as the focus for its storytelling, with both Christmas and Halloween receiving a lot of attention throughout South Park’s run. Thanksgiving has also been lampooned to great effect in the series’ season 15 episode, “A History Channel Thanksgiving,” so it’s not as if this occasion is considered off limits for the show. That being said, the marketing materials for South Park: Post Covid all revolve around moving on from COVID-19, rather than some silly look into turkeys and pilgrims.
7 It Will Be At Least An Hour-Long
The latest doses of South Park, "The Pandemic Special" and "South ParQ Vaccination Special," were both extra-long installments rather than the typical 22-minute episodes that make up the show’s first 20 seasons. It stands to reason that South Park: Post Covid will at least be as long as these previous efforts, but it's possible that the runtime might even extend beyond an hour and fully take advantage of their made-for-TV movie status. Regardless, South Park: Post Covid will be super-sized in some capacity and will likely establish the running length of South Park’s future Paramount+ offerings.
6 It Will Be Separate From The Upcoming Episodes On Comedy Central
South Park has experienced some unexpected transformations over the past few years where the show has pivoted towards an annual special that’s able to aggregate the year’s events rather than a regular run of episodes.
South Park hasn’t completely abandoned this format, but it should be clear that South Park: Post Covid qualifies as one of the many South Park made-for-TV movies that are headed to Paramount+. South Park has had 23 conventional seasons on Comedy Central, with this relationship renewed until at least a season 30. So more ‘South Park is still coming to Comedy Central.
5 It Features The Boys All Grown Up
The biggest selling point behind South Park: Post Covid is that it pushes South Park into unprecedented territory with a look at Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny as adults. There’s so much material to mine from this storytelling pivot and it will surely give South Park a rejuvenated feeling. The details on everyone’s new lives aren’t yet clear, but it seems as if Kyle has replaced Mr. Mackey at South Park Elementary judging by the layout of his office and the “Drugs are Still Bad” poster. It’s also possible that this special may connect with season six’s “My Future Self n’ Me,” which does tease a future, grown-up version of Cartman.
4 It Might Be A Parody On IT
The deeper plot details that surround South Park: Post Covid remain slim, but it appears as if the South Park boys reunite during their adult years after something goes wrong and a darkness returns. The melodramatic nature of this reunion feels highly reminiscent of Stephen King’s IT, which definitely fits with the details that have been provided over South Park: Post Covid. It’s very possible that the story will revolve around COVID-19 returning, decades later, to prove to South Park that it was never fully eradicated. Just like Pennywise’s return in IT.
3 It Could Establish A New Timeline For The Paramount Plus Specials
South Park: Post Covid is the first glimpse of what South Park’s installments on Paramount+ will look like, which Trey Parker and Matt Stone teased would be different from the conventional episodes and seasons.
While it’s likely that this flash forward in South Park: Post Covid will only be for this special, it’s also possible that “Adult South Park” could function as the framing device for all of the Paramount+ content. It’d be a very bold move, but also one that firmly delineates the two types of streaming South Park material.
2 Randy Will Feature Another "Tegridy Special"
South Park has never been a series that shies away from self-aware, meta content and the past few seasons have really embraced Randy’s “Tegridy Farms” storyline, while also using it as a commentary for the special itself. South Park: Post Covid will still feature Randy, albeit a considerably older version of the character, but he doesn’t seem to have run out of Tegridy in his twilight years. Randy is already teasing that the return of Tegridy will be an “exclusive event,” just like South Park: Post Covid, so it’s likely that this structural device will also be present.
1 It May Use A Bifurcated Timeline
South Park: Post Covid has made it clear that it’s jumping to the future in an attempt to show how those who survived through COVID-19 have gone on to live their lives, but there’s no guarantee that the special will take place exclusively in the future. If South Park: Post Covid does in fact riff on IT then it’s also very likely that it will feature dueling timelines that are set both in the past and the future in order to juxtapose the changes that Stan, Kyle, and company have experienced. It’s an approach that would certainly work, especially for South Park with a longer runtime.