South Park is currently in its 26th season with four episodes in, after premiering on Comedy Central on February 28, 2023. All episodes of the season have a next-day availability on HBO Max in the United States. The current season has so far received positive reviews and has a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The previous episode of the series, titled Deep Learning, was released on March 9, 2023, and as such, fans are wondering when the next episode of the season will be released, given that March 15 has come and gone by and no new episode has dropped.
Season 26 of South Park unexpectedly took a one-week hiatus following the release of its fourth episode on March 9, 2023. The fifth episode of the season is now slated to release on March 22, 2023.
South Park season 26 episode 5: Streaming information and what to expect
All episodes of the series air on Comedy Central at 10pm Pacific Time/Eastern Standard Time in the United States, thus fans can catch Episode 5 on March 22 at 10pm PT/EST.
In the United Kingdom, the episodes air a day later, meaning fans living in the country can catch the new episode on March 23 at 10 pm.
As for how fans of South Park can watch the upcoming episode, they can view it if they have the following streaming platforms and services, all of which have the Comedy Central channel:
- Hulu+ Live TV
- YouTube TV
- Sling
- Philo
- DIRECTV STREAM
- Fubo TV
Additionally, fans who have Paramount+ can also stream all episodes of the twenty-sixth season. However, the episodes drop on the streaming platform one day after its Comedy Central premiere. Thus, fans can stream the upcoming fifth episode on March 23 in the US, and on March 24 in UK.
Fans of the series in the US can also stream the fifth episode of Season 26 on HBO Max. Much like in the UK, new episodes of the show arrive on the streaming platform a day after its Comedy Central release, hence viewers can expect it to arrive on March 24.
What to expect from the show?
South Park is known for satirizing a lot of real-life controversy or political events. These include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to step back from royal family duties and Kanye West's antisemitic views.
The plot of the fifth episode remains unclear, as no synopsis has been released. Moreover, it has also not been titled yet. However, if one were to go by the pattern of almost all the episodes of South Park, it would not be wrong to assume that the episode will possibly deal with any recent political or controversial event in a satirical manner.
Three of the previous four episodes of the show dealt with controversial or political events. The season 26 premiere of South Park, titled Cupid Ye, did a parody focusing on the antisemitic political views of controversial rapper Kanye West and also focused on a variety of Jewish stereotypes.
The second episode of the season, Brand Management, did a parody of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to step down as senior members of the royal family and the rebranding they did shortly after. The fourth episode, titled Deep Learning, parodied the use of the artificial intelligence chatbot software ChatGPT.
Aside from its airing on the Comedy Central channel, all episodes of South Park are available to stream on HBO Max and Paramount+, on a next-day availability basis following their premiere on Comedy Central.
On August 5, 2021 series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed a $900 million deal with MTV Entertainment that would see the show extended to 30 seasons up until 2027.