‘Smiling Friends’ Creators Share Show Will End With Season 3, Scrapping Earlier Renewals

Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, the creators for Adult Swim’s “Smiling Friends,” shared Season 3 will be the show’s last, despite a prior two-season renewal.

The duo issued the update in a voice message to fans released on Youtube Wednesday evening, where they confirmed the announcement was “not a bit” or “a joke.”

“We are here to announce that ‘Smiling Friends’ will be ending after Season 3 is done,” Hadel and Cusack said. “We know that’s super disappointing to hear.”

Regarding the reason behind the decision, Hadel and Cusack noted that they were both feeling “pretty burnt out after putting years and years into this,” adding they also felt “pretty accomplished” by what they had created.

They continued: “We just came to this feeling where we’re like, ‘I think that could just be it after Season 3. And, yeah, we both felt like it was right.”

Per the pair, they didn’t want to continue on with more seasons if they were feeling “half-hearted” about it, defending it was “not fair” to them or the audience.

Hadel and Cusack were vehement that this was solely their decision, praising Adult Swim for its reaction to their choice to end “Smiling Friends.”

“Adult Swim are very supportive,” they noted. “When we told them exactly this, they said, ‘You know, if you’re not feeling like making a cartoon, we’re not going to stop you. Go have a break. Either come back or don’t.'”

However, Hadel and Cusack clarified that they hadn’t ruled out more episodes later on, adding, “We’ll have to determine that in the future.”

Listen to their full statement above.

Hadel and Cusack’s announcement comes after “Smiling Friends” was officially renewed for Seasons 4 and 5 in June 2025. The series has become one of Adult Swim’s top-performing shows on HBO Max outside of “Rick and Morty,” ranking among the platform’s top 10 series during its Season 2 premiere.

The third season debuted back in October, with two more additional episodes to air in April before the show concludes.

Per a logline for the show, “Smiling Friends” follows “the employees at a small firm dedicated to making its customers smile,” who then “discover that their jobs are rarely as simple as they seem.”

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