Fans of Smiling Friends were super bummed when the show’s co-creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel announced it would not continue after its third season, especially since Adult Swim had already announced two more seasons were on the way. Super bummed, but also understanding, since it was completely Cusack and Hadel’s decision to pull the plug.
But what if the weary Cusack and Hadel managed to get their mojo back, especially in the wake of the animated show’s first-ever Emmy nomination? In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the pair said there’s still a (slim) chance the show might return.
First, though, the pair elaborated on why they ended their show ahead of schedule.
“At the end of season three, both Zach and I talked to each other and were just like, ‘Our tank is empty right now.’ We just knew it was right to end it there,” Cusack said. We slept on it and came back a week or two later and were like, ‘We can’t go into it when we’re feeling like this, so let’s just end it.'”
Hadel added, “The biggest misconception is people thinking that we were creatively burnt out, or we didn’t have any ideas. That’s the opposite of true … Michael and I are the creators, the directors, the writers, the voice actors—we’re there beginning to end, all the way through. We still have a Google doc full of a bunch of ideas, but we wouldn’t have been happy doing it. It wouldn’t have been bad, but it just would have lost the juice. It would have lost the spark.”
And yes, they tell THR, they did have scripts in the works for season four. “In a few years, if Zach and I feel like making the show again, we’ll dig them out and see if they’re worth making or if we want to start fresh again,” Cusack said.
Asked what the odds are that they’ll feel like making the show again someday, Hadel gave a semi-encouraging answer.
“It’s not low. It’s not 90 percent. It was a very difficult decision to make, but it was the right one … Some days, it’s 60. Some days, it’s 80. Some days, it’s 20. It really does change day to day. But it’s not zero.”
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