Smiling Friends Season Two Nearing

Smiling Friends set the adult cartoon world ablaze when it launched with a pilot in 2020 and a full season following in early 2022. The absurd, hysterical show captivated fans with out-of-left-field jokes and bizarre plots, with every episode ending on a positive note as conflicts resolve themselves in insane ways. Showrunners Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack have been hard at work on the second season with minimal updates, but it is finally set to release on March 31st, 2024 at midnight on Adult Swim, and likely on Max the next day. What’s in store for the Smiling Friends gang in this upcoming season?

When Smiling Friends debuted, it was on April 1st, 2020. It’s fitting that the second season marks its four-year anniversary, then. The season one rollout saw the entire eight-episode season premiere on Adult Swim, despite an announcement of weekly episodes. This was a risky move that paid off thanks to the high quality of the season and cult following on the internet. There is some likelihood that this season debut could follow the same route, due to the high demand from fans. The weekly rollout could also be experimented with by the network to see if audience retention holds steady across multiple weeks.

A brief preview of a season two episode of Smiling Friends was shown at New York Comic Con in October of 2023, promising more ridiculous hysterics and delighting the audience in attendance. The team of Hadel/Cusack have shown that when they have creative freedom, the fans will come. It’s been a long time coming after the hype generated from season one, so here’s hoping those fans don’t become the butt of an April Fools’ joke when the Smiling Friends premiere releases on Adult Swim at midnight EST on March 31st, more than two years after it was renewed for the follow-up season.