Major Adult Swim Show Returning With First New Episode in Years

One of Adult Swim’s most popular shows is making a return after an extended hiatus to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary.

23-time Emmy-nominated stop-motion-animated sketch comedy series Robot Chicken is coming back to Adult Swim for a special episode.

The Robot Chicken: Self Discovery Special will see series creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich take aim at various reality shows and TV personalities of our era. Most of the special will focus on big names from Discovery, Food Network, and TLC.

The official synopsis from Adult Swim says the episode will see “the ever-awkward Robot Chicken Nerd embarks on a journey of self-discovery the American way—by going on reality TV. Will he find a 90 Day Fiancé… or end up as Shark Week chum?”

“For years we’ve been keen students of pop culture, and nothing is more pop than reality TV,” said Green and Senreich in a statement. “Now that Discovery Global Media is Robot Chicken’s corporate daddy, we knew it was time for a meaningful and loving exploration.”

In an interview with TheWrap, Green said that the Warner Bros and Discovery merger killed any chance of a full new season of Robot Chicken.

“No one was green-lighting a new season of 20 quarter-hours. It’s just not happening. Everyone who would have said yes to us got fired and consolidated into a much smaller pinpoint on the graph,” Green said.

“So we said, ‘Well, you guys still like some money, right? You still want your iconic legacy brands to have the opportunity to stay economically viable, right?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, I guess so.’ And we said, ‘Well, we should prioritize making standalone half-hours the way we’ve done in the past and just not concern ourselves with making a whole season,’ sort of what ‘South Park’ has done,” he continued.

Of course, South Park is releasing episodes at a slower clip for a completely different reason. Currently, the creators of South Park are involved in a legal battle with Paramount over the show’s rights.

Robot Chicken: Self Discovery Special will air Sunday, July 20 at 11:30 PM EST on Adult Swim. It will stream the next day on HBO Max.