Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, the creators for Grownup Swim’s “Smiling Associates,” shared Season 3 would be the present’s final, regardless of a previous two-season renewal.
The duo issued the replace in a voice message to followers launched on Youtube Wednesday night, the place they confirmed the announcement was “not a bit” or “a joke.”
“We’re right here to announce that ‘Smiling Associates’ can be ending after Season 3 is completed,” Hadel and Cusack mentioned. “We all know that’s tremendous disappointing to listen to.”
Relating to the rationale behind the choice, Hadel and Cusack famous that they had been each feeling “fairly burnt out after placing years and years into this,” including additionally they felt “fairly achieved” by what that they had created.
They continued: “We simply got here to this sense the place we’re like, ‘I believe that would simply be it after Season 3. And, yeah, we each felt prefer it was proper.”
Per the pair, they didn’t need to proceed on with extra seasons in the event that they had been feeling “half-hearted” about it, defending it was “not truthful” to them or the viewers.
Hadel and Cusack had been vehement that this was solely their determination, praising Grownup Swim for its response to their selection to finish “Smiling Associates.”
“Grownup Swim are very supportive,” they famous. “Once we informed them precisely this, they mentioned, ‘You already know, when you’re not feeling like making a cartoon, we’re not going to cease you. Go have a break. Both come again or don’t.’”
Nevertheless, Hadel and Cusack clarified that they hadn’t dominated out extra episodes in a while, including, “We’ll have to find out that sooner or later.”
Hearken to their full assertion above.
Hadel and Cusack’s announcement comes after “Smiling Associates” was formally renewed for Seasons 4 and 5 in June 2025. The sequence has change into considered one of Grownup Swim’s top-performing reveals on HBO Max exterior of “Rick and Morty,” rating among the many platform’s prime 10 sequence throughout its Season 2 premiere.
The third season debuted again in October, with two extra extra episodes to air in April earlier than the present concludes.
Per a logline for the present, “Smiling Associates” follows “the workers at a small agency devoted to creating its clients smile,” who then “uncover that their jobs are not often so simple as they appear.”