Smiling Friends Sunday may be over, BUT…
Any viewer of late-night adult animation is familiar with the boom in popularity coming from Adult Swim’s Smiling Friends, a joint effort between creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel. The series feels like it has both a cult fanbase and a wider appeal at the same time, evident through at least one clip from the previous Sunday’s episode going viral on Twitter.
“The Glep Ep” wrapped the third season this past Sunday, exploring the origins of the titular “prop character” as he’s often been dubbed by Cusack and Hadel. The episode actually goes in-depth about the history of Smiling Friends as a company and how Glep played a foundational role in its creation. The episode explores a few dark and heartfelt moments while keeping up the iconic silly, sudden tone the show has been known for since its pilot. Fans expected as much, since Adult Swim refused to share much about the episode aside from the same two clips from its intro.
The unfortunate news is that with the eighth episode, the show seems to have run its course as it has for the previous two seasons. However, eagle-eyed fans spotted a listing on the Warner TV Germany website that indicated this wasn’t the last we’d be hearing of the critters this season.
The two episodes, “Friend Bot (version 12589218731809213528796879521)” and “Charlie’s Uncle Dies and Doesn’t Come Back”, don’t seem to have any release information beyond their synopses and probable 11-minute runtimes. The former did not air a preview following “The Glep Ep” as all previous episodes of the season had, which leads us to think Adult Swim’s decision to give the season a full 10 episodes may have come later in the season’s production. This would mean these episodes may not premiere until sometime in 2026, which would give fans of Smiling Friends some more noshings while waiting for the already greenlit fourth and fifth seasons of the show.
Crew members on the show have implied or outright confirmed this ten-episode order, though the creators themselves have remained silent. It’s fair to say the remaining two episodes are in fact real, but until there’s further word on their release, we’ll just have to keep our eye on Pim and Charlie. Just hope it’s not a big, disembodied one brought about by Mr. Boss’ ex-wife.
The third season of Smiling Friends is now streaming on HBO Max.