Since its premiere in 1997,South Parkhas been stunning audiences — and not always in a good way. Fans of the show think it’s hysterically brilliant, while some viewers have been offended by its antics since day one. Unfortunately for the latter, their outrage only added to the show’s soaring popularity. Twenty-six seasons later,South Parkhas joinedThe Simpsonsasone of the longest-running showsin TV history. In addition to its offensive content,South Park’senduring success is owed to its crudely original animation style, its clever satire on current events, and its colorful cast of characters.
Some ofSouth Park’smost popular characters have appeared on the show since the first season, and continue to play a prominent role in the series. Others, however, had no such luck. These characters may have been prevalent at one point, but since their heyday, they’ve fallen largely by the wayside. Some of these characters continue to make non-speaking cameos, appearing in the background as extras, such as Big Gay Al, Ned, Tweek, and Mr. Slave.
Other characters have disappeared completely, or even been unceremoniously killed off, tragic victims of creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and their ruthless comedy. Here are tencharacters who had their 15 minutes of fame within theSouth Parkuniverse, or longer, but have since been retired.
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10Margaret Nelson
When it comes to hiring good, competent teachers, South Park Elementary fails almost as badly as Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series. Margaret Nelson was one of the few good teachers employed at South Park Elementary. After Mr. Garrison decides to run for President of the United States,becoming a spoof of former President Donald Trump, Mrs. Nelson steps in to take his place. Unlike most adults in the show, she comes across as intelligent and competent and actually teaches things to her fourth grade class.
Why She Was Retired
Because Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, so did Mr. Garrison. Parker and Stone brought Mr. Garrison back into the fold and reinstated him as the kids' fourth grade teacher. So they killed off Mrs. Nelson in 2021’s “South ParQ Vaccination Special”, where she contracts COVID-19 and immediately dies. It’s an unfortunate loss, but her death paves the way for Mr. Garrison to claim his rightful place at South Park Elementary, much to the dismay of the fourth grade class.
9Veronica Crabtree
Old schoolSouth Parkfans who have been watching the show since the beginning will immediately recognize Veronica Crabtree. Newer fans… not so much. Ms. Crabtree was the yellow-toothed, short-tempered bus driver of South Park Elementary, who had a bird living among her disheveled hair. She played a very minor role in the series. Most of her appearances consisted of screaming at the kids at the top of her lungs, yelling at them to, “SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!”
Ms. Crabtree’s appearances grew less and less frequent duringSouth Park’srun. She was eventually killed off the show, along with the bird nesting on her head, in the 2004 episode “Cartman’s Incredible Gift.” Throughout the rest of the episode, Parker and Stone break the fourth wall and poke fun at her murder and insignificance. They basically explained why they killed off Ms. Crabtree with this self-aware quote from Park County police officer Detective Harris: “She was considered an ancillary character, one the fans wouldn’t miss much.”
Philip Pirrup, more commonly known as Pip, was based on the character of the same name from Charles Dickens' classic novel,Great Expectations.Like his literary counterpart, Pip was a British boy in old-fashioned attire. He was overly polite and eloquent, a little British gentleman — and also very annoying. Pip was usually the subject of ridicule and harassment from his elementary school peers.
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Why He Was Retired
Pip always felt like an out-of-place character. A random British boy, based on a Charles Dickens character of all things, in the town of South Park? It almost makes you wonder if Parker and Stone hated Dickens' novel and wanted to abuse its protagonist in their cartoon. Pip was never popular among fans. His popularity waned even more when he became eclipsed by a similar character: Leopold Stotch, also known as Butters. Both characters are overly polite, naive, and easily manipulated.
They both also have an old-fashioned vibe to their names and personalities (Pip from Victorian England and Butters from 1950s America) and often find themselves at the butt-end of a joke. Except Butters is way funnier and more likable, rising up to becomea fan-favorite supporting character inSouth Park.Replaced by Butters, Pip vanished for multiple seasons. He made his triumphant comeback in the 2010 episode “201,” where he politely asked Mecha-Streisand to stop destroying the town — and was then promptly squished like a bug. Unlike Kenny, Pip hasnotcome back to life since.
7Diane Choksondik
When the boys graduated from third grade, Diane Choksondik became their new fourth grade teacher. She was a stern, elderly woman with certain very large, droopy features. And her name was a play on the phrase… well, you get the joke.
Ms. Choksondik was a prominent character for several seasons. She even had a relationship with South Park Elementary’s guidance counselor, Mr. Mackey. But their relationship turned out to be short-lived, just like Ms. Choksondik’s existence. The 2002 episode “Professor Chaos” ended on a cliffhanger, teasing the death of a major character that wouldn’t be revealed until the next episode.
And then just a few seconds later, the show went ahead and revealed that dead character to be Ms. Choksondik. It was meant to be a parody of cliffhanger endings. She was likely killed off so Mr. Garrison could replace her as the boys' fourth grade teacher, which is exactly what happened.
Satan was… well, Satan — the openly homosexual ruler of Hell. Despite being the very embodiment of evil, he’s a surprisingly gentle, compassionate, and vulnerable soul. For whatever reason, Satan takes frequent trips to South Park, where he threatens world domination. He’s also the survivor of a toxic, romantic relationship with Saddam Hussein.
Satan was a popular recurring character inSouth Parkfor many years. He was even the secondary antagonist ofthe animated show’s feature length film,South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. His last appearance was in the 2018 episode"Nobody Got Cereal?" where he fights the dreaded ManBearPig — and loses. Who knew that the ruler of Hell could be killed?
In a twist of irony, Satan sprouts angel wings after his death and is granted entry to Heaven. He hasn’t been seen since, apparently too busy frolicking in the fields of Heaven to visit South Park. As for why the show retired him? There doesn’t seem to be any reason, other than he was the victim of Parker and Stone’s comedy.
5Officer Barbrady
For years, Officer Barbrady was the lone cop of South Park. A one-man police department who couldn’t read, let alone solve a crime. He was one of the dumber and more incompetent adults inSouth Park,always telling the crowd, “Move along people, there’s nothing to see here,” even when chaos was descending all around him.
Officer Barbrady had been fading inSouth Park’sbackground for years. The show tried bringing him back to prominence with his very own episode, “Naughty Ninjas,” where the town of South Park realizes just how important Barbrady is for their community, even though he constantly screws up. But it didn’t stick.
Officer Barbrady hasn’t been retired completely. He still makes cameos and appears as an extra in the background (for instance, he was last seen at the funeral for the aforementioned Mrs. Nelson), but he hasn’t spoken a word since 2015. His role has been cut down significantly, in favor of Park County’s Detective Harris and his bumbling police department.
4Principal Victoria
Since season one,Principal Victoria was the bushy-haired principal of South Park Elementary. She wasn’t as dumb as other adults inSouth Park,but she certainly had her moments. One of her highlights was convincing Wendy to beat the crap out of Cartman for making insensitive jokes about breast cancer. Principal Victoria did the best she could to run the school efficiently, despite the stupidity of her incompetent faculty and staff.
In a strange turn of events, Principal Victoria was fired from South Park Elementary off-screen, between seasons 18 and 19. She was terminated for referring to a student’s rape as a “Hot Cosby,” though this was later revealed to be a lie fabricated by Mr. Mackey for the way she mistreated him. She was replaced by PC Principal, the woke frat bro who bullies people into adhering to his politically correct agenda.
A parody of woke culture, PC Principal was meant to be a one-time character, who would be killed off at the end of the episode. But Parker and Stone enjoyed him so much that they decided to turn PC Principal into a recurring character. He’s since becomea favorite amongSouth Parkfans. In doing this, the former Principal Victoria fell by the wayside. She still makes cameos from time to time but hasn’t had a speaking role since 2019.
3Saddam Hussein
What is there to really say about this guy? He was Saddam Hussein, the former president and dictator of Iraq who committed crimes against humanity. He was also the former lover of Satan,the antagonist ofSouth Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,and an aggressive sexual deviant with a whiny, high-pitched voice. Unlike mostSouth Parkcharacters, his face is a moving picture of the real-life Saddam rather than an animation.
Saddam was a recurring character in the earlier seasons ofSouth Park.His appearances always involved getting laid and hatching diabolical schemes. He hasn’t shown his Canadian-styled head since the 2003 episode “It’s Christmas in Canada,” where he was revealed to be the prime minister of Canada. This was right around the time of Saddam’s capture, just before he was tried and hanged for crimes against humanity. It seems like Parker and Stone decided to retire the Iraqi dictator following his real life imprisonment.
2Mr. Hankey
Mr. Hankey is a sentient piece of poop, who leaps out of the toiletaround Christmastime to spread holiday cheer— and also fecal matter. As the legend goes, Trey Parker never flushed the toilet after going to the bathroom when he was a child. His father warned him that if he didn’t start flushing the toilet, a piece of poop named Mr. Hankey would pop out of the toilet and eat him.
It’s a slightly darker take on the Mr. Hankey that we’ve all come to know inSouth Park.Nevertheless, this story served as the inspiration for this classic character. Mr. Hankey can usually be found rocking either a sailor hat or a Santa Claus hat.
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At one point, Mr. Hankey was arguably the most popular side character inSouth Park. Fans couldn’t get enough of the Christmas-obsessed turd and his iconic catchphrase: “Hoooowdy ho!” But the jokes around a talking piece of poop grew stale after so many seasons. The town of South Park canceled Mr. Hankey after he he posted a series of offensive tweets in the 2018 episode “The Problem with a Poo.”
He was booted from South Park and sent to live in Springfield, home ofThe Simpsons, where he would supposedly fit right in. This move felt more like Parker and Stone’s way of retiring the character and kicking him off the show. In the end, it was really them who canceled Mr. Hankey.
No supporting character inSouth Parkwas more popular than Chef, who was famously voiced by soul star Isaac Hayes. He was so much more than the cafeteria cook at South Park Elementary. Chef was the unofficial fifth member of Kyle, Stan, Cartman, and Kenny’s little crew, their dependable guide to the confounding adult world. Chef would often serenade them with sexualized soul songs, and share his wisdom and insight with the boys.
This is one of the more complex and purposeful retirements inSouth Park.During the show’s run, Hayes became a Scientologist.In the controversial 2005 episode “Trapped in the Closet,“South Parkabsolutely massacred Tom Cruise and Scientology. And Hayes apparently wasn’t happy with it.
After nine seasons of working with Parker and Stone, Hayes quitSouth Parkin protest of the episode. Suffice to say, his departure left a bitter taste in Parker and Stone’s mouths. They brought Chef back in the 2006 episode “The Return of Chef.” But since Hayes refused to voice the character, Parker and Stone were forced to get creative.
They took Hayes' voiceover work from past episodes and weaved his words together to create Chef’s dialogue for the episode. His lines were mostly incoherent nonsense — but that was the joke. Chef had been brainwashed into becoming a member of the Super Adventure Club, a group of adult men who travel the world and molest children. Yes, that’s right — Parker and Stone basically compared Scientology to a group of sexual abusers.
They took the hate even further whenthey brutally murderedChef at the end of the episode. The character caught fire, fell off a cliff, was impaled by a branch, got shot up with bullets, and was eaten by both a bear and a mountain lion. It’s a savage send-off with a clear message: Chef and Hayes willnotbe returning toSouth Park.
