Prepare for more adventures at Bikini Bottom. Per Deadline, Nickelodeon has just renewed several of its most popular animated programs, including Blue's Clues & You! for season 5 and PAW Patrol for season 10. Also officially announced is that SpongeBob SquarePants will return to Nickelodeon for its fourteenth season, which comes with 26 new episodes of the long-running cartoon series. It also shows Nick's commitment to the original incarnation of the franchise despite its continued expansion with feature films and various spinoffs.
Returning for season 14 of SpongeBob SquarePants will be all of the key voice cast members: Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick Star), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy Cheeks), and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton). The new episodes will continue to follow SpongeBob and pals amid the various goings-on of Bikini Bottom, which includes frequent shifts working as a cook at the local burger joint, the Krusty Krab.
SpongeBob SquarePants was created by Stephen Hillenburg, who passed away in 2018. The animated series first premiered on Nickelodeon in 1999 and very quickly became one of television's most popular shows. After airing 13 seasons in the years since, the show has surpassed 270 episodes with no clear signs of slowing down. Throughout its run, the series has garnered multiple prestigious awards, including Annies, Emmys, Golden Reels, and Kids' Choice Awards.
SpongeBob SquarePants Has Multiple Spinoffs in the Works
It was previously announced that the world of Bikini Bottom would be heavily expanded with various spinoffs, both as feature films and separate TV shows. Paramount+ has already brought to viewers the animated prequel Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, featuring the characters as they attend a summer camp. That show has found its own success on streaming has since been renewed for more episodes.
SpongeBob's best pal has also gotten a spinoff with The Patrick Star Show. The spinoff puts Patrick into the lead role, with his family members serving as supporting characters. There's more to come with the other characters in the universe, as Paramount+ will also stream character spinoff films following Bikini Bottom's different residents. There have been reports that these projects include solo stories on Squidward and Sandy Cheeks.
“As we’ve known with Nickelodeon’s long-standing success, the kids and family audience is incredibly loyal, and we see that on Paramount+ as well, with kids and family ranking as one of the strongest genres on the service in terms of both engagement and subscriber acquisition,” said Brian Robbins of Paramount+ in a company statement. “So as they stay for our shows and look for even more of them, we’re doubling down on giving them what they want by expanding the universes of the characters they love the best.”
A handful of movies set in SpongeBob universe have previously been released. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie was the first to do so with its theatrical premiere in 2004. This film was followed by 2015's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which included footage of the animated characters escaping the sea and mingling in a live-action world. The planned wide theatrical release of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run was nixed due to the pandemic before it was released on VOD and Paramount+ in 2021.