Smiling Friends was created by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack. Both creators had a large audiences because of them originally being youtubers. The first episode of Smiling Friends aired on Adult Swim on January 10, 2022. The series was soon greenlit by Adult Swim to get a whole season.
The show focuses around a group of characters who work for a company that dedicate their time to making other people find joy in life, often leading to unhinged, darkly humorous events that get resolved in the end. The show has a mix of artstyle and animation style that give the surreal universe a unique aesthetic. The show invites animators from the internet to animate unique characters, and fans of said animators will instantly recognize who it is.
The show received three full seasons with a total of 25 episodes. The show was greenlit for 2 more seasons, but the creators decided to cancel the show due to their creative burnout. They felt like they achieved everything they wanted from the show and have no more ideas for it. The creators posted an official cancellation announcement to Reddit. Michael Cusack said, “To be perfectly honest, after we finished season 3… Zach and I just both had the feeling where we felt pretty burnt out after putting years and years into this, but also pretty accomplished.”
The announcement has left fans of the show on many different social media platforms like Youtube, Reddit, Twitter, and Bluesky in disappointment.Some fans understand the case and figure that it would be better for the show to end when it can instead of being dragged out for too long like other animated shows. Others on the other hand are in complete despair due to the show ending. To officially wrap up the series, they have announced that 2 final episodes will be released on April 12, 2026.
