The next South Park special developed exclusively for Paramount+ has just been unveiled, and along with it comes a brand new teaser. Dubbed South Park: The Streaming Wars, the special appears to be taking aim at the rise of streaming services. It's something the South Park team undoubtedly knows a lot about, as while these specials are made strictly for Paramount+, previous seasons of the show are only available to stream at HBO Max. You can watch the new teaser below.
This would be the third South Park "movie" developed for Paramount+ as part of an overall deal with ViacomCBS for 14 exclusive specials. In 2021, the first special, South Park: Post Covid, was released, chronicling how Covid-19 had affected the citizens of South Park along with the origins of the illness. This was followed up by a sequel, South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid, featuring time travel and revealing the boys in a future timeline.
"With Viacom, we realized we could make them as long or as short as we needed," co-creator Trey Parker has said of the specials, which were originally announced as movies. "And they then went and called them movies. They are the ones who said we are giving them 14 movies in seven years. All I can say is for me, personally, I am 52 years old, I have made three movies in my life. So you do the math."
Parker added, "We're trying to make what's on Paramount+ different from anywhere else, so hourlong made-for-TV movies is where our head is at," he clarified. "We'll do two made-for-TV movies every year. They will be big, but they are not quite movie scale."
South Park Content Cost ViacomCBS a Pretty Penny
ViacomCBS spared no expenses with ordering more South Park content. In 2021, it was announced that the South Park creators had struck a deal with the company to keep South Park on Comedy Central through 2027. Part of this same deal also included the separate specials for Paramount+, which they're planning to release two of each year. The deal has a reported worth of $900 million, making it one of the highest ever.
"Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we're really happy that they've made a commitment to us for the next 75 years," a joint statement from Trey Parker and Matt Stone read when the deal was announced. "When we came to ViacomCBS with a different way to produce the show during the pandemic, Chris (McCarthy), Nina (Diaz), Keyes (Hill-Edgar) and Tanya (Giles) were immediately supportive and enabled us to try something new that turned out to be really well received. We can't wait to get back to doing traditional South Park episodes but now we can also try out new formats. It's great to have partners who will always take a chance with us."
South Park: The Streaming Wars will start streaming on Paramount+ on June 1, 2022. You can watch previous seasons of South Park on HBO Max.