That’s the case for this year as well as Adult Swim did not disappoint with its April Fools’ Day stunt this year. When it had scheduled a Smiling Friends Season 3 marathon for the evening, fans were hoping that the prank would be related to the show (especially now that the show itself is ending). With the debut of this year’s prank on April 1st, it turns out it was indeed Smiling Friends related but not in the way that fans might have expected. Check it out below.
Adult Swim Debuts Smiling Friends April Fools’ Day 2026 Prank
When fans tuned into Adult Swim last night to see what this year’s April Fools’ Day prank would end up being, they were surprised to see a new short from prominent creator Lee Hardcastle. Fans of the channel might recognize Hardcastle’s work through multiple promos and more in the past thanks to the artist’s clay based stop-motion animated style. But Smiling Friends fans in particular might recognize the new “Ghosts & Chainsaws” short even if they didn’t know the name of it as it was originally featured in Season 3’s Halloween special.
The first few seconds of “Curse of the Green Halloween Witch” see the Smiling Friends wrapping up a wild looking, black and white movie. But for the April Fools’ Day stunt, Hardcastle returned to reveal the rest of that short itself. The stunt featured the full version of the short, and leads directly into the Smiling Friends episode as if it were there the entire time. It was a pretty cool way to integrate Smiling Friends into what will likely be its final April Fools’ Day stunt with Adult Swim for a while.
When Does Smiling Friends Season 3 End?
Courtesy of Adult Swim
Smiling Friends is going to be officially coming to an end with Season 3, and the final two episodes of the series will be airing with Adult Swim on Sunday, April 12th at 11:00PM ET. Although the animated series had been previously renewed for two more seasons, creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel surprised fans when they announced the show would be done with Season 3. As part of the goodbye, fans are getting two of the final episodes produced together with the third season.
It’s been teased by the creators that these final episodes are far from feeling like a grand finale for the show, and are more “stragglers” that were developed alongside the rest of the already aired season. But with the show coming to an end either way, fans are now ready to see these final new episodes to help say goodbye to the fan favorite.
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