It was such a wild announcement for such a massively popular series with Adult Swim that Smiling Friends fans were wondering whether the show was really going to end, or whether it was part of some elaborate joke. Making matters even more befuddling is the fact that Adult Swim has revealed listings for its March 31st-April 1st evening schedule (usually reserved for their annual April Fool’s Day prank), and it’s full of Smiling Friends episodes for now. Check it out below as spotted by @swimpedia on X.
What’s Does Adult Swim Have Planned for April Fool’s Day 2026?
Adult Swim has made an annual tradition of offering something fun for fans during their April Fool’s Day evening broadcasts. Previous years have even included Smiling Friends as not only did the series’ pilot first make its premiere during the holiday schedule, but one year also saw many of the episodes fully remade with puppets. It’s impossible to gauge whether or not this year’s prank will involve Smiling Friends in some fashion, and that’s even more in question now that it has been announced that the show itself is ending.
The scheduled listings seen here are likely not going to hold on the day itself if Adult Swim decides to go through with its April Fool’s Day plans. It’s usually just a placeholder listing that is quickly replaced by whatever they are actually going to show, or sometimes the episodes themselves have twisted elements. But for those fans hoping it’s all just an elaborate prank for Smiling Friends‘ future, that’s unlikely going to be the case given the statements from Adult Swim and creators Cusack and Hadel themselves.
Smiling Friends Really Is Over
Courtesy of Adult Swim
Cusack and Hadel have been quite open about the fact that they never wanted Smiling Friends to last forever, and have been public about their desire to end the series at a certain point. Although it was picked up for a fourth and fifth season with Adult Swim, Cusack and Hadel shared their desire to move onto other projects and end Smiling Friends after its two final produced episodes make their premiere later this Spring. Though Adult Swim is keeping the door open if the creators ever wanted to collaborate again.
Smiling Friends Season 3 will be releasing its final two episodes with Adult Swim on April 12th. The creators emphasized that these were two episodes that were produced during Season 3’s production, but just never released. These are far from finale kind of feeling episodes, and even described the creators as “stragglers” with no thematic ties to one another. It’s just one final batch of episodes.
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