Adult Swim’s latest flagship show and internet sensation, Smiling Friends, is coming to an end after three seasons. The series wasn’t canceled by the network; series creators, writers, and stars Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack are the ones wrapping it up. In an announcement video uploaded to the Adult Swim YouTube page, Hadel and Cusack confirmed that, after season three, the two are just burned out.
The duo confirmed that Smiling Friends has two more episodes, described as “stragglers,” before the series’ end, and in no way are these two installments meant to serve as a finale. Although the creators are burned out, they say they are very proud of what they’ve accomplished. They list a host of reasons for their decision, chief among them being that they want to end on a high note and not overstay the show’s welcome. They also don’t want to coast and produce slop for their audience. Above all else, the creators don’t want to hand over the keys to their series to other writers because “it’s not that type of show” and they’re “control freaky” about it.
After first surfacing during one of Adult Swim’s April Fool’s Day stunts in 2020, Smiling Friends formally launched in 2022 and quickly became a cult fixture, with subsequent seasons arriving in 2024 and 2025. Purportedly centered on a small Pennsylvania charity tasked with spreading happiness, the series is really a delivery system for Cusack and Hadel’s absurdist sensibilities. Episodes veer into bizarre tangents, populated by strange and sometimes vaguely menacing one-off characters that feel ripped from the internet’s strangest corners. The two creators, who first built their following as online animators, provide the voices for most of the show’s cast and serve as its primary writers, with a mixed-media animation style that relies on a sizable team of artists to bring their chaotic vision to life.
While the series never scaled the pop-cultural heights of Rick and Morty, it clearly had the audience and creative runway to try. But the creators’ reasons for ending it now ring very true in a landscape populated by shows plagued by slow erosion. Walking away could prove to be a savvy move for Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel, freeing them to apply what they’ve learned to an even stronger new IP. Still, they’ve reassured fans that the door isn’t fully closed, leaving room to revisit Smiling Friends for a special, or a truly great idea, if and when the right moment strikes.
