The 2026 Emmys are about to be yuuuge.
The last time South Park received any Emmy love was in 2021 for The Pandemic Special. That was its 18th overall nomination for Best Animated Program, a category it’s won five times. Five years later, thanks to the political uproar over its depiction of President Donald Trump, South Park should be a shoo-in for nomination No. 19.
“Sermon on the ‘Mount,” the premiere of Season 27, has been submitted by Paramount+ for Emmys consideration. That’s the one in which Trump, newly in love with Satan, forces the titular Colorado town to integrate Christianity into its schools. At the end of the episode, Trump is shown completely naked and unpixelated.
In response, the real-life Trump administration blasted South Park as a “fourth-rate show” with “uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention.” TV critics and fans, meanwhile, praised the episode’s fearless satire, particularly its attacks on Paramount, its streaming home, for its recent Trump-approved merger with Skydance Media.
Regardless of what side of the political aisle you fall on, there’s no denying the truth: South Park was one of the most talked-about shows of the year. And, perhaps not so coincidentally, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were just announced as inductees into the TV Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
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Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord
Per the Gold Derby data, South Park now has a 94% chance of returning to the Best Animated Program lineup, placing it alongside The Simpsons (98%), Bob’s Burgers (95%), King of the Hill (75%), and Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord (56%).
Other animated programs in the hunt for Emmy attention include Rick and Morty, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, Invincible, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85, and The Elephant.
The Simpsons holds the records for the most Emmy wins in this category — 12 — as well as the most nominations at 34. The beloved Fox family comedy has submitted the 15th episode of Season 37 for awards consideration. In “Homer? A Cracker Bro?,” Homer strikes up an unlikely friendship with Kirk as they create a crumb-less cracker that quickly sweeps the nation.
Bob’s Burgers, a two-time Best Animated Program winner and 14-time nominee, is trying its luck this year with “Grand Pre-Pre-Pre-Opening.” In the 16th season premiere, Bob and Linda are considering raising their menu prices, which brings up memories of when the restaurant first opened all those years ago.
King of the Hill is a six-time nominee in the program race, winning once, in 1999. It went off the air in 2010, only to return last year to great fanfare. The show is submitting Episode 8 of its revival, “Kahn-scious Uncoupling,” in which the Souphanousinphone family throws an anniversary party to hide a secret that only Hank knows.
Freshman series Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Star Wars: Clone Wars, which won this Emmy race twice (2004-05), a long time ago in a Creative Arts ceremony far, far away. Maul – Shadow Lord put forward “Chapter 9: Strange Allies” at the Emmys, in which trust is tested among newly forged partners.
Do you think South Park will return to the Emmy lineup after a five-year break? Be sure to sound off in our TV forums, and make your predictions before the nominations are announced July 8.
