Smiling Friends: 'smiling friends' to End After Season 3
smiling friends will end after its third season, creators and stars Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel announced in a video posted to Adult Swim’s X account. The pair said exhaustion and a sense of accomplishment led them to decide to conclude the series with Season 3.
Creators reveal the decision
“I’m gonna cut right to the chase, ” Hadel said at the top of the message. “This is not a bit, this is not a joke. Michael and I are here to announce that ‘Smiling Friends’ will be ending after Season 3 is done. ” Cusack added, “To be perfectly honest, after we finished Season 3, Zach and I just both had the same feeling where we felt pretty burnt out after putting years and years into this, but also pretty accomplished. We just came to this feeling where we were like, ‘I think that could just be it, ’ after Season 3. ”
Burnout and creative reasons
Hadel said from the beginning he and Cusack wanted to put “110%” into Smiling Friends and then “go out on top. ” He said it was better to leave the audience “wanting more” than to have fans think, “‘That show is still on the air? Oh god. '” Hadel added, “We wouldn’t want to be doing more seasons half-hearted or burnt out or not feeling it. That’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to the audience to give you guys fucking slop. That sucks. ” Article coverage also described the creators as feeling “burnt out and creatively accomplished after completing the third season. ”
Final episodes and timing
The pair announced that two unreleased Season 3 episodes will air April 12 on Adult Swim, with one report specifying the broadcast time as April 12 at 11 p. m. Hadel clarified these installments are “not finales, ” calling them “little stragglers” that didn’t make the initial rollout and elsewhere describing them as “not big finales” but “little rogue planets out there” that were created as part of the season that launched in October.
Renewals and earlier plans
Despite this decision, the series had previously been picked up for seasons four and five; one report noted the show had been picked up for two additional seasons in June. During an interview timed to the Season 3 premiere in October, Cusack and Hadel said they had already written two episodes for a new season and that they planned to evaluate how they felt after season five. Cusack said, “Even our agents think we’re going to go to season 80. ” Cusack also previously stated, “We pretty much can guarantee it’s not going to go on as much as these other shows, ” while Hadel added, “Even if we had a thousand ideas at the end of season five, we’re not going to go on long. ”
Support from Adult Swim and next steps
Cusack described the decision as “our decision, ” and said Adult Swim had been “very supportive. ” He recalled the network telling them, “If you’re not feeling like making a cartoon, we’re not going to stop you. Go have a break. Either come back or don’t. ” Cusack added, “We could come back in the future and make more episodes if we want, if we feel like it. And they’ve been super cool and said they would let us do that. But maybe not. Who knows?”
Adult Swim issued a statement praising the creators: “Everyone at Adult Swim is incredibly proud of what Michael and Zach built and grateful for the bold, boundary‑pushing vision behind Smiling Friends. Adult Swim has always been a creator‑driven network, and Smiling Friends simply wouldn’t exist without the singular vision and ambitious creativity of its co-creators. Like fans, we are sad to see this series come to an end. However, we fully respect and support Michael and Zach’s decision to bring their vision to a close with the final two episodes premiering April 12, and we look forward to the possibility of collaborating with them on future projects. ”
Show premise and future possibilities
Smiling Friends, which debuted in 2022, centers on co-workers Charlie, voiced by Hadel, and Pim, voiced by Cusack, who attempt to bring positivity into the lives of others. The creators said they would not want to hand the project off to other creatives — “We’re so control freak-y over it, ” Cusack said — but they left the door open to return in another form. Coming comments from the pair included the possibility of collaborating on other projects, a special, or reviving the series if they choose in the future.
Cusack acknowledged the difficulty of the announcement: “We know this is very disappointing. It’s been very hard to even record this recording for it because it’s just a very difficult thing to say for us. We hope you understand and we hope you’ve enjoyed what we’ve done. It’s been amazing. The fans have been so good. It’s been the best. It’s been the ride of a lifetime. But I hope you see where we are coming from. ”
Creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel made the decision public in the video, and the series will conclude its current run with the two additional Season 3 episodes airing April 12.
