On the Smiling Friends cancellation
I will preface this to say that I have accepted Smiling Friends being possibly over for good. Although I’m sad about it, I’m not in denial and I’m okay with moving forward. However, I’ve seen some conflicting narratives among fans surrounding the cancellation and I want to add my piece based on what I have observed from the creators.
I know what the announcement video said. I know they said they were “burnt out” and “didn’t want to give us slop” and framed it as purely a creative decision. However, based on everything else I’ve seen in the past few months, I don’t think that’s the full truth. I think there’s another, more pressing factor at play.
I know Zach and Michael made it sound like they wrapped up production and decided then and there that they were ready to step back, but I don’t think that’s really what happened. Refer to this interview from November 30th, 2025, AKA the day the Glep Ep aired. By this point Season 3 was entirely done and had been for at least a couple months. They were talking about the show like it still definitely had a future, with this quote from Michael standing out especially:
Season 4 was actively in production.
They were not out of ideas. Is it a possibility that they realized partway through production that they didn’t have enough ideas for a full season? Sure, maybe, but I kind of doubt it. They seemed way too excited about the next two seasons to be running out of steam. Instead consider the announcement that was made that very next week:
If you don’t know, this is what Paramount would be acquiring:
Gasp! The Smiling Friends will be owned by Satan Paramount!
Although this was in talks for at least a couple years prior, this announcement looks like decisions are actually being made now. I don’t know all about the inner workings of entertainment corporations to be able to accurately say what would have happened to Smiling Friends. Maybe Paramount would cancel it, or exert too much influence on its creative direction, or mess around with some copyright stuff. None of these would be good. In any case, Zach and Michael don’t like their visions being messed with so they decided to end the show while they still had control over it. It was that or risking all of these decisions being taken out of their hands.
@melis-hellis pointed out that the Smiling Friends characters were taken off the ZAM Studios website on December 7, 2025 (around the time of the December 8th merger announcement) which also seems like it couldn’t have been a coincidence
Of course, I keep coming back to Zach and Michael’s openness to come back eventually. Zach said in the announcement video:
“If we tell you guys, oh yeah, we're taking a really long break, a hiatus for a couple of years, that feels almost like we're promising you something. It's easier and it's better and it's cleaner to say this is a good spot to end it. If we really feel inspired, if we really feel like we've got great ideas and we're hungry to do it again, uh we you know, absolutely we'll come back maybe for a special or some more episodes. But it's got to be right and it's got to be done right. And we have to know that we're going to make something that's great for you guys that you guys can enjoy.”
I know they could have easily said this if they really were just out of ideas. “We’re out of ideas now, but we might not be in the future.” You don’t want to promise to come out of hiatus in a set amount of time and be still out of ideas when that time comes. However, Zach reiterated this point in a recent Reddit comment and I want to pay attention to his wording in this interaction with staff writer Hans Van Harken:
Pay attention to the phrase “if the conditions are right.” What conditions? Creative inspiration, sure, but with everything going on I think he is also, perhaps more so, referring to industry conditions. The door is open for them to return now, but will it be in the future when Adult Swim has different owners? Nobody knows. I think the framing of this as an indefinite hiatus is code for waiting and seeing how the merger turns out once all the dust is settled.
In short, I think the merger has Zach and Michael’s hands tied even though they framed it as an entirely independent decision. They aren’t allowed to say the merger is the reason behind all of this because that would kill their chances of making more Smiling Friends at all. Their new bosses at Paramount would tell them to fuck themselves for essentially badmouthing them and then Smiling Friends would REALLY be over for good. By staying on good terms with them and taking the blame for this decision, they have better chances of coming back if/when they feel like it and retaining their creative freedom.
I just don’t think they’d backtrack on something they seemed so excited about and were actively working on just because they randomly got bored. If they were running out of steam I think they would have taken more time to think it through (which is why they previously talked about ending the show at Season 5) instead of making promises in interviews at a point where they knew they wouldn’t keep them. There had to have been external factors pushing this decision.
Maybe Smiling Friends will return one day, maybe not. From how I see it, it depends less on the creators’ whims and more on the state of the industry.
Smiling Friends got lucky, being able to end somewhat on its own terms. I fear for other creators and shows that will be at the mercy of Paramount soon.
