The Entire South Park Timeline Explained

Since its debut in 1997, the animated sitcom "South Park" has become one of the most popular and critically acclaimed shows on TV. Per IMDb, the show has been nominated for almost 100 awards and won 18 of them — including 5 Primetime Emmys. Real-life friends Matt Stone and Trey Parker created the irreverent and chaotic show while attending the University of Colorado together in the early '90s.

"South Park" has come to be known by fans for constantly pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable and not, and they have even gone back and apologized for some of their more inflammatory episodes. Still, more than two decades after its debut, it is running stronger than ever.

Due to its long history, new viewers often find it a little confusing to understand everything that has gone on in the show. Even long-time fans probably have a hard time remembering the more than 300 episodes and 25 seasons, particularly since they often incorporate current events and short-lived pop-cultural references. We're here to bring you up to speed on the most important things that have gone on in the "South Park" universe, from Season 1 to Season 25 and the most recent specials. This is the entire "South Park" timeline explained.

Season 1 of "South Park" builds the foundation for the entire series. In the first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe," the show introduces the four main characters of the series: third-graders Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, and Kenny McCormick. The boys all attend South Park Elementary, where they constantly tease each other and use incredibly foul language with everyone. Cartman in particular subjects Kyle to verbal anti-Semitic attacks.

Through the season, we learn that the boys' favorite TV show is "The Terrance and Phillip Show" (which revolves around excessive flatulence), that Kyle's family is Jewish, and that Kenny is very impoverished compared to the other kids. In one of the more outlandish episodes, "Damien" (Episode 10), Jesus of Nazareth and Satan appear for the first of many times in the series, coming down to earth to engage in a boxing match. The character Kenny is also killed in every single episode except "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" (Episode 9), setting up a gag that runs almost the entire series. Mr. Hankey also becomes a recurring character, as a sentient piece of feces spreading Christmas joy.

Later in the season, the kids all meet an Ethiopian boy named "Starvin Marvin" (Episode 8), who they befriend before he returns home. The season ends on a massive cliffhanger, with the question of who Cartman's biological father is left open.

The second season of "South Park" starts by announcing that the identity of Cartman's father won't be revealed until the following week. Instead, the first episode, "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus," revolves around the kidnapping of Canadian comedian Terrance's daughter and his attempts to rescue her. The show returns to the question of Cartman's biological father in the second episode, and the answer turns out to be his intersex parent, Liane, who had been identifying as his mother. Liane explains she previously had impregnated a woman, but had raised Cartman alone as a single parent. When the show starts to then address the question of who Liane may have impregnated, Cartman angrily yells "Ah! Forget it!" and the episode ends.

The season also gives rise to two of the biggest memes in "South Park" history: Cartman as a police officer and Chef selling his "chocolate salty balls" chocolate treats. In the third episode, "Chickenlover," Cartman briefly becomes the town's deputy and demands that its citizens respect his authority. In the ninth episode, "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls," Robert Redford moves the Sundance Film Festival to South Park, which prompts Chef to sell his confections to the new arrivals.

Season 3 of "South Park" also coincided with the release of the movie "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut," which saw the boys travel to Canada to protest censorship. In the first episode of Season 3, "Rainforest Shmainforest," Kenny develops his first crush on a new girl in school only to be immediately struck by lightning. In "Tweek vs. Craig" (Episode 3), we learn that Tweek gets his nickname because of his prescription for ADHD medication. The show also introduces the "Sexual Harassment Panda" (Episode 6), a failed mascot exiled to the Island of Misfit Mascots Commune because his message doesn't make any sense.

Recurring characters Starvin' Marvin and Mr. Hankey also make appearances. The boys send Marvin to the planet Marklar to escape trouble in his home country of Ethiopia in "Starvin' Marvin in Space" (Episode 13), and Mr. Hankey comes back to town to host a Christmas musical in "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" (Episode 15).

To end the season, the boys all attend a concert where they're set to perform the recorder with millions of other school children. However, Cartman sabotages the event by adding a "brown note" to the sheet music, which he claims is the only musical note that makes everyone defecate their pants upon hearing it — which ends up happening everywhere as the concert is broadcast worldwide ("World Wide Recorder Concert," Episode 17).

"South Park's" fourth season is notable for a few major developments for the show. "Timmy 2000" (Episode 3) introduces Timmy, a character with a mental handicap. He was the first character with a disability to be featured on the show, and he ends up fronting a rock band named "Lords of the Underworld." Cartman goes to prison briefly in "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" (Episode 2) after being mistaken for committing a hate crime against the character Tolkien (AKA Token).

The season also builds upon the fractious relationship between Kyle and Cartman. Cartman gives Kyle one of his kidneys so he can live — though he has to be tricked into doing so ("Cherokee Hair Tampons," Episode 6).

Probably the biggest development in the season is the boy's graduation from third to fourth grade ("Fourth Grade," Episode 11). Not only do the boys become fourth graders and start terrorizing the younger kids, but their teachers undergo several changes, too. The former third-grade teacher, Mr. Garrison, disappears briefly while he comes to terms with his sexuality, which changes his character arc for the remainder of the season when he becomes openly gay. The boys also get a new teacher, Ms. Choksondik, who quickly responds to their antics by standing up to them in class.

Season 5 has one of the more interesting developments of early "South Park" when Kenny actually passes away. It was a running joke since Season 1 that Kenny's character would somehow be brutally or outlandishly killed in almost every episode. In response, Stan's character would scream "Oh my god! They killed Kenny!" To which Kyle would always reply, "You bastards!" Then, in the next episode, Kenny's character would appear alive, as if nothing happened. 

However, in Season 5 Episode 13, "Kenny Dies," his character's death really becomes permanent. He is diagnosed with an unspecified illness and passes away in the hospital. The boys are all devastated by his death, except for Cartman, who cares more about Shakey's Pizza than anything else. In the outrageous fourth episode of the season, "Scott Tenorman Must Die," Cartman kills an upper classman's parents and feeds them back to him mixed in with chili.

Season 5 also has the introduction of an important character in the "South Park" universe, Towelie. In the eighth episode, "Towelie," the boys discover a marijuana smoking towel that appears whenever they mention anything relating to water or getting wet. In "Proper Condom Use" (Episode 7), South Park Elementary holds sex education classes for the kids, but the teachers do such an incompetent job that the boys end up learning absolutely nothing.

The sixth season of "South Park" has the boys continuing to deal with the death of Kenny from the season prior while also confronting puberty for the first time in the series. Butters replaces Kenny as the fourth member in Cartman, Stan, and Kyle's group in "Jared Has Aides" (Episode 1), which also parodies former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. Butters' alter ego, Professor Chaos, also comes alive for the first time in "Professor Chaos" (Episode 6). During this episode, Butters falls out of favor with the group and they hold tryouts to see who their new friend will be. Butters tries to create a scheme to take over the entire world, but gets discouraged when he realizes all of his ideas have been tried in the show "The Simpsons" before ("The Simpsons Already Did It," Episode 7).

The boys start to deal with the onset of puberty in the 10th episode, "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society." One of their classmates, Bebe, starts to develop breasts, which the boys quickly notice. During Episode 12, "A Ladder to Heaven," Cartman inadvertently drinks Kenny's ashes, thinking they were chocolate milk mix. For a few episodes, Cartman becomes partly possessed by Kenny's spirit, until it is excised in Episode 15, "The Biggest Douche in the Universe," and Kenny's spirit is transferred to a pot roast. Kenny returns to the show in the Season Finale "Red Sleigh Dawn," though no one seems to acknowledge it.

The seventh season of "South Park" starts off with quite a bang as the boys realize in the first episode, "Cancelled," that earth is actually just one giant reality TV show for extraterrestrials. Students Jimmy and Timmy, who have handicaps, also briefly join the Crips street gang, thinking that "Crips" is short for cripples ("Krazy Kripples," Episode 2). The War in Iraq also becomes a flashpoint during the season, as the boys have to decide between the two sides of town, one pro-war and the other opposed ("I'm a Little Bit Country," Episode 4). The boys decide against both, realizing neither side is truly correct.

Cartman and Butters form a band to make money by exploiting religious listeners, while Stan, Kyle, and Kenny's band fails to ever get off the ground ("Christian Rock Hard," Episode 9). The elderly in South Park constantly get into car crashes, often killing pedestrians, and as a result the town confiscates their licenses in "Grey Dawn" (Episode 10). In retaliation, the elderly take the town hostage utilizing air drops from the AARP. However, the town is able to thwart their takeover by locking the doors to the Country Kitchen Buffet, thereby robbing them of their only food supply.

By the eighth season of "South Park," the boys had pretty well established themselves as troublemakers, and the season saw some of their most outlandish antics. In the second episode of the season, "Up the Down Steroid," Jimmy starts using steroids in an effort to win the upcoming Special Olympics. Cartman, shocked at the idea of a Special Olympics in the first place, pretends to be handicapped himself in order to be allowed to participate. He thinks it will be easy for him to win since he is only faking his disabilities, but he quickly becomes outmatched and is easily the worst participant in the entire event.

The show introduces their parody of Mel Gibson in "The Passion of the Jew" (Episode 4) when Stan and Kenny demand he give them a refund after hating his movie "The Passion of the Christ." In another celebrity appearance, Michael Jackson briefly moves to South Park to escape the media and paparazzi, disguising himself with a mustache and going by the name Michael Jefferson ("The Jeffersons," Episode 6).

In the ninth episode, "Something Wall-Mart Comes This Way," the town is briefly taken over by a Walmart store that becomes sentient in a parody of "The Matrix." In the season finale, "Woodland Critter Christmas," the Woodland Critters are introduced as a sadistic and murderous cabal of wild animals.

Mr. Garrison's character goes through a ton of changes throughout the series, particularly in Season 9. In the season opener "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina," he has gender confirmation surgery and transitions to becoming female. However, once Ms. Garrison realizes she cannot have children or menstruate, she becomes upset and wants the transition reversed. Still, in the end, she decides to accept her new gender — which remains female in the series until Season 12.

In Episode 4, "Best Friends Forever," Kenny briefly enters a coma after being hit by an ice cream truck, but he regains his life in the end after leading his side to victory in a holy war in heaven. Cartman tries to start a war against red-haired children, whom he derisively nicknames "gingers," but it backfires in the end when the rest of the guys trick him into thinking he has red hair himself ("Ginger Kids," Episode 11).

In one of the most famous episodes of the entire series, "Trapped in the Closet" (Episode 12), Tom Cruise and John Travolta both come to South Park after being told that Stan is the second coming of Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard. However, Stan rejects the label as the new leader of Scientology, leading everyone to threaten litigation against each other.

Season 10 of "South Park" sees the end of a longtime character as well as the introduction of a new villain. In the first episode, "The Return of Chef," Chef's character leaves South Park for a short period to join the illustrious Super Adventure Club. But upon his return, he has a strange new voice and strange new tendencies. After realizing he's under the hypnosis of the Club, the boys successfully wake him up — only for him to fall to his apparent death. The club resurrects him as "Darth Chef" and he leaves South Park forever.

In "Cartoon Wars I and II" (Episodes 3 and 4), the town is thrown into chaos when everyone learns that the show "Family Guy" is planning on airing an uncensored image of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in one of their episodes. Cartman and Kyle fight over the censorship, with Cartman pretending to be offended in order to get "Family Guy" canceled and taken off the air. Muhammad's image ends up getting shown and the town is retaliated against by extremists.

The ManBearPig character is also introduced in Season 10 in a parody of former Vice President Al Gore ("ManBearPig," Episode 6). ManBearPig is a metaphor for climate change, which the episode ridicules. Ms. Garrison also enters a short relationship with scientist Richard Dawkins ("Go God Go," Episode 12).

The first episode of Season 11, "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson," revolves around secondary character Randy Marsh, Stan's dad. He says a racial slur while on "Wheel of Fortune," which gets him in trouble, so he doesn't end up winning the prize. The town is then rife with racial tensions, including the boys' group, which is only reconciled when Stan acknowledges the limitations of white people's racial awareness. In the third episode of the season, "Lice Capades," the entire fourth grade is infected with hair lice, who take the form of sentient beings living on Clyde's head.

Hillary Clinton's 2008 run for President is lampooned in the fourth episode "The Snuke," during which her body is rigged with an explosive device that almost goes off. It is also revealed in Episode 9, "More Crap," that U2 singer Bono is actually just an incredibly large piece of feces and not a human being.

The biggest arc of the season involves the magical Imaginationland that the boys enter for three episodes ("Imaginationland I, II, and III," Episodes 10-12). The magical land is the place where all of the things that human beings have imagined come alive, but unfortunately it is under attack from Islamic terrorists who continuously bomb everything. The U.S. government wants to "nuke Imaginationland" to stop the terrorists, but they luckily refrain. ManBearPig reappears and Butters becomes the commander of Imaginationland's army, leading them to victory against the terrorists and restoring everyone's imagination intact.

Season 12 starts off with Cartman being inadvertently infected with HIV when he's having his tonsils removed ("Tonsil Trouble"). He ends up infecting Kyle with the disease too out of revenge. Luckily, the boys find the cure: excessive amounts of money. After being injected with $180,000 directly into their bloodstream, both boys are cured of the infection. In the second episode, "Britney's New Look," Britney Spears comes to South Park and is immediately targeted by the paparazzi. The town ends up killing her when they photograph her to death during their frenzy. Ms. Garrison's character has their sex change from the ninth season reversed and goes back to being Mr. Garrison again in "Eek, a Penis!" (Episode 5).

The world also deals with an international pandemic: Peruvian pan flute bands ("Pandemic" and "Pandemic II: The Startling, Episodes 10-11). Peruvian flute bands start popping up everywhere, which ends up being a giant conspiracy involving Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The pandemic eventually ends, only for a new Mariachi band pandemic to potentially start.

In Episode 12, "About Last Night...," Barack Obama's 2012 Presidential victory is parodied, with Obama and his opponent John McCain secretly using the election as a cover for the biggest diamond theft in history.

An important new character is added to the show in Season 13: Cartman's superhero alter ego, The Coon ("The Coon," Episode 2). Cartman gives himself a tail, fake claws, and fake ears, transforming himself into a vigilante raccoon. He tries to get the townspeople to take notice, but nobody cares about superheroes — until new crime fighter Mysterion comes along and starts solving problems. The Coon and Mysterion fight each other to solve the most crime, though The Coon's motives are suspect. Eventually, Mysterion is unmasked, but his true identity is not revealed to the audience.

In the sixth episode, "Pinewood Derby," South Park comes in contact with alien lifeforms after inadvertently discovering warp speed. However, the aliens reject the human species after discovering how corrupt and unethical they are. The boys briefly start their own wrestling federation after seeing a "WWE: RAW" event in person, but they focus more on the storytelling than the actual wrestling ("W.T.F.," Episode 10).

In the season finale, "Pee," the show introduces another new character to the series: Pi Pi, the owner of the local waterpark. In the episode, the waterpark is filled with too many people, and the content of the water starts to change after being saturated with urine. The park ends up exploding with urine, and Kyle has to drink some in order to save the town — which he reluctantly does.

Season 14 of "South Park" begins with the show lampooning Tiger Woods and other celebrities' extramarital affairs in "Sexual Healing." Later, in "Medicinal Fried Chicken" (Episode 3), South Park gets its first dispensary. Many of the adult men in town immediately get medical marijuana cards to take advantage, but they have to give themselves testicular cancer to be eligible. In a call back to previous episodes in the series, many of the celebrities that "South Park" had lampooned over the years return to the town to file a class-action lawsuit against them ("200" and "201," Episodes 5-6). It is also revealed in "201" that Cartman's real father is former Bronco Jack Tenorman, who he unknowingly killed in Season 5 and fed to his half-brother, Scott.

Season 14 also saw a continuation of The Coon and Mysterion feud from the prior season. The Coon creates a new team of superheroes, "Coon and Friends," but ends up getting kicked out of his own group after angering everyone else. He then harnesses the powers of H.P. Lovecraft's character Cthulhu and tries to take over the town. It is finally revealed to the audience that Mysterion is Kenny and he actually does have a super power — he can't be permanently killed. Cartman and Cthulhu are eventually quelled and South Park returns to normal, and it is revealed that's Kenny's superpowers are the result of his parents involvement in a cult while his mother was pregnant. 

To begin Season 15 of "South Park," the company Apple kidnaps Kyle after he fails to read the terms and conditions when installing iTunes onto his computer ("HumancentiPad"). In a spoof of the movie "Humancentipede," Kyle is subjected to disturbing experiments by Apple. He is finally saved when his dad signs up for Apple himself, freeing Kyle. In "You're Getting Old" (Episode 7), the boys' parents try to stop them from listening to their favorite music, "tween wave," and Stan's parents divorce. Stan briefly becomes incredibly depressed and starts drinking whiskey after being introduced to it by a character parodying Morpheus from "The Matrix."

Stan's parents get back together in the next episode, "Ass Burgers," after working out their problems. The theater starts to become popular in South Park in Episode 11, "Broadway Bro Down," as the adult men realize it is a good way to get their wives interested in them. Randy becomes a playwright and director, creating his own musical titled "The Woman in White," which opens to good success.

To end the season, Kenny and his siblings are briefly put in foster care after his parents are sent to prison. But after abuses in the foster system are uncovered, the parents are released from prison and Kenny returns home ("The Poor Kid," Episode 14).

Cartman's character is one of the big drivers of Season 16, with many plots revolving around him. In the second episode, "Cash for Gold," he sets up a business exchanging cash for gold and quickly starts making infomercials. He ends up creating a massive business, only to realize the entire industry is just one big scam that survives largely by preying on the elderly. In "Jewpacabra" (Episode 4), he lies about a mythical beast that is hiding in the forest, and his inability to be truthful leads to him being tranquilized.

A new girl, Nichole, comes to town later in the season and Cartman immediately tries to get her and Token/Tolkien into a relationship ("Cartman Finds Love," Episode 7). He mistakenly thinks they'll get along because they're the same skin color, but it turns out Nichole actually likes Kyle instead — which infuriates Cartman. Eventually, Tolkien and Nichole do end up together, which ends up being Tolkien's first relationship.

In Episode 12, "A Nightmare on Facetime," Stan's dad Randy buys a Blockbuster Video store that's on sale for cheap. However, the store soon turns into a nightmare in a parody of Stephen King's "The Shining." In the season finale "Obama Wins!," Cartman rigs the 2012 election in favor of Obama after being hired by the Chinese government so they can make new sequels to the "Star Wars" franchise.

Cartman, in his infinite quest to secure his right to privacy, begins Season 17 by creating a new social media network with actor Alec Baldwin ("Let Go, Let Gov"). He ends up infiltrating the NSA to see what information they have on him, only to be dismayed when he discovers they never considered him a threat at all. 

The Goth Kids subgroup of friends also gets their own episode, "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers" (Episode 4). The Goth Kids had previously appeared in Season 7 and 9 in small roles as kids eschewing mainstream conformity while chain-smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. In the Season 17 arc, the Goth Kids go to war with the Emo Kids after one of their group gets "body-snatched" and stops being Goth. The Goths defeat the Emos in the end, restoring order to their group. 

Another prominent storyline in the season is Randy's short employment at South Park Mall as a security guard leading up to Black Friday ("Black Friday,” Episode 7). He gets a job there in hopes of cutting all of the lines when the stores open. Meanwhile, the boys form cliques over which new gaming system to buy: a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. In the end, the boys realize the value of playing outside, while Randy's policies lead to mass chaos and bloodshed at the mall.

Season 18 of "South Park" was the first to feature partially serialized storylines with consistently recurring plots and themes between episodes. The boys start the season by creating a new company, but they have difficulty coming up with an original name until the Washington Redskins football team's trademark expires and they're able to use it ("Go Fund Yourself"). The episode goes on to ridicule the NFL, the Washington Redskins, and their owner Daniel Snyder over the real-life loss of their trademark. Their antics upset everyone at school.

In the third episode, "The Cissy," Randy reveals that he is secretly the New Zealand pop star Lorde in disguise and has been creating all of Lorde's music in the bathroom at his work. This becomes the most prominent plot of the season, as people start to become suspicious of him and investigate his connection with Lorde.

In the sixth episode, "Freemium Isn't Free," Stan starts to develop an obsession with mobile video games and spends all of Randy's money buying content for the game. This forces Randy to perform a concert as Lorde, which goes disastrously, as he can't sing without the studio's autotune ("#REHASH," Episode 8). The season ends with Randy quitting his music career and the boys becoming disillusioned with online gaming ("#HappyHolograms," Episode 10).

Season 19 of "South Park" continued the trend from Season 18 of having somewhat serialized storylines. The main plots revolve around the arrival of a new character PC Principal, the town getting a Whole Foods supermarket, and Mr. Garrison announcing his run for the 2016 Presidential election. PC Principal arrives in the first episode, "Stunning and Brave," as South Park Elementary's new principal. He immediately ushers in a wave of political correctness that overtakes South Park.

The increase in political correctness and recent influx of Canadians into South Park drive Mr. Garrison to become a parody of Donald Trump. He announces his intent to build a wall at the Canadian border and run for President in the upcoming election ("Where My Country Gone?" Episode 2). However, when the rest of the country sees his campaign ads they start to ridicule the town, which prompts Randy to get a Whole Foods built to restore the town's image ("The City Part of Town," Episode 3).

These themes all continue throughout the season, with the town creating two gentrified districts for the supermarket, SoDoSoPa and Shi Tpa Town. Unfortunately, the Whole Foods brings with it massive amounts of advertisements. However, by the end of the season, the town is able to defeat the ads and the Whole Foods flies away ("PC Principal Final Justice," Episode 10).

The linear and serialized plotlines continued through Season 20, with the most prominent themes being Mr. Garrison's 2016 Presidential campaign and victory, the new internet troll "Skankhunt42," and the complete transformation of Cartman's character from selfish to caring. The other boys initially believe that Cartman is the internet troll. They take Cartman to the woods, where they destroy his computer and other electronics ("Skank Hunt," Episode 2). However, once the troll continues to post, the guys realize their mistake, and it turns out that Kyle's dad Gerald is the actual culprit. 

Cartman's exile from social media and electronics actually ends up benefitting him, as he starts a relationship with fellow classmate Heidi Turner and becomes a more selfless and caring individual ("The Damned," Episode 3). Meanwhile, the rest of the town is still trying to identify the person behind "Skankhunt42" after his posts lead to the death of a Danish Olympian. This prompts the Dutch to create "TrollTrace," a program to track down the identity behind internet trolls ("Douche and a Danish," Episode 5).

Mr. Garrison's campaign takes place during all of this. He's elected President with the help of member berries — which are small berries uttering nostalgic phrases ("Oh Jeez," Episode 7). The world realizes the implications for TrollTrace on their own internet histories, and the boys stop the program from destroying everything. Gerald's identity is never discovered and the internet is shut down in the season finale "The End of Serialization as We Know It."

For Season 21 of "South Park," the show mostly abandoned the serialized format from prior seasons, though episodes did still have continuity. Cartman and Heidi's relationship continues, but becomes strained as Cartman is now back in favor with his friends ("White People Renovating Houses," Episode 1). They briefly break up before getting back together as Cartman realizes his dependence on her ("Put It Down," Episode 2). He also tries to have her killed at one point, but his plot fails and they remain together ("Sons a Witches," Episode 6). They eventually break up in the season finale, "Splatty Tomato," after Heidi realizes the relationship is not good for her.

The Coon and Friends superhero gang makes an appearance again in the fourth episode "Franchise Prequel," battling Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook's takeover of the town. PC Principal also takes a love interest at the end of the season, Strong Woman, who is his new Vice Principal ("Super Hard PCness," Episode 9). He is conflicted because he's attracted to her but also wants to respect her independence as a working woman and does not want to put her under any duress as her boss. However, they end up hooking up anyways. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Garrison's dislike of Canada continues, resulting in him dropping a nuclear bomb on Toronto. The town tries to capture him and turn him over to Canada, but he escapes.

Season 22 continues the format of the preceding season and the theme of political correctness. Mr. Hankey's character returns for the third episode, "The Problem With a Poo," but the town turns on him after he keeps tweeting politically incorrect things, destroying his reputation in South Park forever.

In "Tegridy Farms" (Episode 4), Randy gets fed up with the new vaping craze and decides to move his family out of the city and onto a marijuana farm. He names the farm "Tegridy Farms," short for integrity, which he claims he's getting back by becoming a farmer. Throughout the season, Tegridy becomes more and more successful as the townspeople purchase increasing amounts of marijuana when things become more chaotic. ManBearPig also makes another appearance as a metaphor for climate change, but this time the townspeople realize that he (and climate change) is real ("Time to Get Cereal," Episode 6).

PC Principal and Strong Woman end up having quintuplets as a result of their liaison in Season 21, which they struggle to deal with due to the babies' political incorrectness ("Buddha Box," Episode 8). An Amazon fulfillment center also comes to South Park, but it is ousted when everyone realizes their Tegridy is more important ("Bike Parade," Episode 10).

Tegridy Farms continues to be a prominent theme for Season 23, as the Marsh family becomes increasingly entrenched in their new lifestyle. Randy tries to expand his marijuana empire to China, only to get arrested and thrown in prison for drug smuggling ("Band in China," Episode 2). Eventually, he's able to free himself from Chinese prison after strangling Disney character Winnie the Pooh to death. He ends up entering into a deal with the Chinese government to legalize marijuana in China, but he leaves the partnership an episode later after backlash from his family and business partner Towelie ("Shots!!!" Episode 3).

Tegridy Farms starts to lose customers due to their previous relationship with China, so Randy invents "Tegridy Burgers" to sell plant-based meat utilizing his leftover marijuana ("Let Them Eat Goo," Episode 4). The cold weather of winter precludes Randy from harvesting for the second half of the season until the season finale, when the town persuades him to create a new special, which he does by lacing marijuana and Christmas Snow together ("Christmas Snow").

Strong Woman and PC Principal's relationship also continues in Season 23. They are raising their politically incorrect quintuplets, but their relationship moves out into the open and they no longer feel the need to keep it hidden from everyone.

Season 24 of "South Park" is much different from the rest. It consists of two different two-part specials that take place during the COVID-19 pandemic. "The Pandemic Special" and the "South ParQ Vaccination Special" both focus on the town's initial response to the outbreak of the virus. It is revealed that Randy is responsible for creating the entire pandemic when he had sex with a pangolin while in China trying to sell his Tegridy weed. The entire town fights increasing restrictions and outbreaks, and Mr. Garrison returns to teaching after his Presidency ends. The Vaccination Special ends with the town getting the vaccine and going back to normal.

However, it's revealed in "South Park: Post-COVID" that, just a short time later, the boys' friendship crumbles apart when they argue over the vaccine. The timeline then flashes forward 40 years into the future, with the pandemic still going on and the boys all distant. Cartman's character has become a rabbi and is raising a family, Kenny has become a scientist but dies, Stan has become a whiskey consultant, and Kyle has become a guidance counselor. Meanwhile, Butters has changed his name to Victor Chaos and is peddling NFTs to the town, which gets him sent to a mental health facility. In the end, the boys travel back in time to stop their friendship from crumbling, which ends up stopping the pandemic from lasting as long. A final scene reveals the new future of the South Park gang, where they are all friends — except Cartman, who's bitter and homeless.

Season 25 takes place chronologically between the previous two specials from Season 24, during the period where the COVID-19 pandemic has ended but before the boys are grown up in the future. Some of the story arcs that continue are Randy's running of Tegridy Farms and Mr. Garrison returning to the classroom after failing to get re-elected. Probably the biggest storyline of the season is the retroactive name change of one of the characters.

For the first 24 seasons and specials, one of the Black characters was known by the name of Token Black. However, it is revealed in "The Big Fix" (Episode 2) that his name is actually Tolkien — in honor of author J.R.R. Tolkien. Stan turns out to be the only one who thought his name was Token, and from then on his character is referred to as Tolkien instead of Token by all characters.

Tolkien's father Steve also creates a rival marijuana farm to Randy's, called Credigree Weed. The two compete throughout the season for customers in South Park, and in the season finale they have competing "specials" for St. Patrick's Day, which ends with the town canceling St. Patrick's Day altogether ("Credigree Weed St. Patrick's Day Special").

"The Streaming Wars" is a two-part special that takes place directly following the events of Season 25. Randy and Steve are still locked in their war for the most successful marijuana farm in town. However, Randy's character slowly starts turning into a Karen. He soon breaks the fourth wall and starts to lament that marijuana and Tegridy farms ruined his character on the show. He returns to his former profession of being a geologist by the episode's end.

Meanwhile, Denver is experiencing a major drought due to ManBearPig, which prompts them to look to South Park as a supply of new water. Randy and Steve learn that their properties both have water reserves they aren't using, which they convert into large streams that flow all the way into Denver. The competing marijuana farms in South Park all start selling their water streams to Denver, which ends up causing a drought in South Park, too.

In the second episode of the special, it is revealed that water park owner Pi Pi is exploiting ManBearPig's son and wife, Chuck Chuck and PigBearGirl, to deliberately disrupt the water supply. He wants to replace the city's entire water supply with urine, and he gets celebrities who participated in cryptocurrency ads to also appear in his campaign promoting urine over water. In the end, ManBearPig turns on Pi Pi with the boys' help, and everyone's water supply is restored.