A Beloved Animated Show Is Ending (Despite Already Being Renewed For More Seasons)
Not even a visit from Squim can save us now. On Wednesday night, fans were shocked to learn that Smiling Friends is officially coming to an end after three seasons. This news was especially a shock to fans… given the fact that the Adult Swim animated series had previously been renewed for Season 4 and 5, as announced on social media in June of 2025.
The news was broken in a video posted to Adult Swim’s social media accounts, in which series creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel deliver an audio message announcing the news. (As they say in the video, they wanted fans to be able to hear from them directly, instead of just reading text on a graphic.)
“I’m gonna cut right to the chase,” Hadel announced. “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.”
As Cusack put it: “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.”
Launching in 2020, Smiling Friends centers around the employees of its titular company, a charity that goes to great lengths to make people smile. Pim Pimling (voiced by Cusack) Charlie Dompler (voiced by Hadel), Allan Red (also voiced by Cusack) and Glep (also voiced by Hadel), as well as their boss Mr. Boss (voiced by Marc M.) go on various wacky and often-indescribable adventures as part of their job.
The show combines a slew of different animation styles, as well as cameos from various actors and 2000s Internet personalities. In the years since its initial debut, Smiling Friends has grown into a bit of a hit, with pop-up events in New York City and at various comic conventions, and a line of merchandise available through Hot Topic.
Could Smiling Friends Return?
Hadel had previously indicated that he and Cusack did not want the show to overstay its welcome, a topic that is brought up again in the video announcement. They also argued that announcing an ending made more sense than forcing a multi-year hiatus on fans… or even continuing the show in their current circumstances.
“We wouldn’t want to be doing more seasons half-hearted or burnt out or not feeling it,” he added. “That’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to the audience to give you guys fucking slop. That sucks.”
Later on in the message, Cusack and Hadel did confirm that Adult Swim has been “very supportive” of their decision to end Smiling Friends — and that the door is wide open for them to eventually return for a one-off special or even another full season of episodes, if they want to at a later date.
“When we told them exactly this, they said, ‘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 explained. “That’s the other thing, 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?”
In the meantime, there is still a little bit more Smiling Friends on the horizon: two bonus episodes from Season 3 will debut on Adult Swim on April 12th. The pair stressed that these two episodes are not full-blown finales for the show, but actually “little stragglers” that were not able to be released alongside the original airing of Season 3.
“We know this is very disappointing,” Cusack concluded, “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.”
(featured image: Adult Swim)
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