With South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker recently revealing the show’s plans to skip the 2024 presidential election, the writing was on the wall for their Donald Trump stand-in version of Mr. Garrison. The beloved teacher-turned-presidential candidate first appeared back in 2016, and he has made appearances here and there since then. Nowadays, he splits time between his teacher persona and his Trump persona, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be the case any longer.
The creators confirmed to Variety that they decided to push the next season until after the election.
Matt Stone: “We’ve tried to do ‘South Park’ through four or five presidential elections, and it is such a hard thing to — it’s such a mind scramble, and it seems like it takes outsized importance.”
Trey Parker: “Obviously, it’s f—ing important, but it kind of takes over everything and we just have less fun. I don’t know what more we could possibly say about Trump.”
The decision to move on from Trump – as evidenced by South Park not returning until 2025 – leaves Garrison’s character up in the air. It was hinted in the Season 26 finale that a return to playing Trump was back in the cards, but that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore. The obvious thing the show could do is revert Garrison to being a teacher full-time. When he stopped portraying Trump, the show just had him assume his teaching role as if nothing happened. The good news is that the fan-favorite Mr. Garrison isn’t going anywhere, but anybody looking forward to seeing him play a parody of the former president will have to watch old episodes.
South Park Has Retired Numerous Characters in the Past
A Donald Trump parody is far from the only character that’s been retired by South Park, and it certainly won’t be the last time audiences see it happen. When a show runs as long as South Park has, it makes sense that characters come and go. The show retired the Chef character all the way back in 2006 when the late Isaac Hayes exited the series. Hayes, a Scientologist, was unhappy with how the series mocked Scientology and released the following statement:
“There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins.”
Satan is another popular character the show has retired. There hasn’t been much of a reason given, but he hasn’t been seen since 2018. Nothing is stopping him from coming back, especially since he’s played a prominent role in the past, notably as the villain of the film South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut. In his last appearance, after he was killed by ManBearPig, Satan surprisingly grew angel wings and ascended to Heaven. It was a shocking and comedic moment for fans, but there’s nothing to indicate that he can’t come back down to the world of South Park to visit sometime.
South Park
Season 27 debuts in 2025.
