In an era where Rick and Morty is the biggest series on Cartoon Network, it’s no easy feat to follow in the footsteps of the Smith family on Adult Swim. In recent years, however, there has been one series that has risen the ranks to become one of the programming block’s biggest new arrivals. Smiling Friends introduced the world to the hilarious adventures of Pim and Charlie, two employees of a company who want to bring smiles to the world. While creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel never wanted the show to run forever, the animators have bad news for those thinking the end was far away.
In a recent interview, the YouTubers turned animators discussed how they are thinking of ending Smiling Friends with its fifth season. This will leave fans with just two more seasons of Charlie and Pim if Hadel and Cusack have their way. “We’ll see how we feel after four and five, and then Zach and I will get into the war room and decide what the next plan is. We pretty much can guarantee it’s not going to go on as much as these other shows. Even if we had a thousand ideas at the end of season five, we’re not going to go on long. I will say that much. We’re not going to put a number up, but five is getting close to probably where we’ll want to wrap it up.”
The Smiling Friends in The Future
The third season of Smiling Friends wrapped in November of last year, giving fans a closer look into how the organization came to be by focusing on the backstory of Glep. Revealing that Glep was actually hundreds of years old, the pint-sized green employee would go on to run into Mr. Boss, who helped him to create his now infamous company. In the summer of last year, Cartoon Network confirmed that Smiling Friends would return for seasons four and five, which might just act as a crescendo to the animated series should the creators have their way.
While Rick and Morty is set to receive a new spin-off later this year, the Adult Swim series branched out with a controversial anime of its own. For those thinking that Charlie and Pim might do the same, Hadel and Cusack have stated that they aren’t thinking of creating a Smiling Friends anime series in the future. This, however, doesn’t mean that they aren’t thinking of injecting an anime style into the Adult Swim series in the future.
During San Diego Comic-Con 2024, the Smiling Friends creators hinted at the idea of infusing the animation style into the series, “We’ve talked about that. We like the idea of that, we’ll see if it will happen. We like anime and we like Japan culture.” Throughout the first three seasons of Smiling Friends, the series has dipped its toes into wild animation styles, sometimes presenting characters in formats far different from that of the main charcters. Even if the Adult Swim entry ends at season five, it won’t be soon forgotten.
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Via Bleeding Cool
