The boys are back!

For the past 17 years South Park has been known for many things including obscene jokes, hilarious characters, and controversy among others, but one element most fans recognize is that it has the rare ability to kill off characters continuously and having them be brought back the following episode or a season or two down the road. This became a running gag with one of the main characters; Kenny McCormick, the beloved mumbling, hooded character became the start of one of the recurring themes of the series, death.

Oh my God, they killed Kenny!…For good once, you bastards!

Out of 245 episodes Kenny died in about 75% of them if not more, at one point series co-creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone killed the character off for good. In the episode ironically titled “Kenny Dies”, Kenny McCormick becomes ill from an incurable disease and the other three boys; Kyle, Cartman, and Stan feeling heart-broken over the ordeal, although in earlier seasons they simply laughed at or put off Kenny’s death, but in this episode Matt and Trey wrote the characters’ reaction to his death as being more emotional and sincere.

Not Kenny, not Kenny!

For some reason or another Kenny’s would-be “permanent” death was done due to series co creator Matt Stone’s supposed hatred of the character. According to a 2002 interview, Stone viewed the character as nothing more than a prop rather than an actual main character, but fans saw him as being much different than that, with many feeling as if he was one of the main reasons for watching the series.

Wizard Cartman & Princess Kenny.

The following is a direct quote from Stone’s 2002 interview with his thoughts on Kenny: “Kenny Dies” was the one episode where all the characters cared he was dying for once. After that, we said, ‘Why doesn’t he just stay dead?’ And it was like, ‘Okay, let’s just do that.’ It was that easy of a decision. I think a lot of people probably haven’t noticed. I couldn’t care less. I am so sick of that character.
—Matt Stone, from a 2002 article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel

But the character was brought back the end of the very same season he died in, most likely due to high fan demand with the recurring deaths no longer being a running gag, it’s now treated as a prop itself. Now South Park is parodying something it’s never parodied before in its’ 17 season run; Black Friday and Game of Thrones. One event and one series of books/TV series which has (unfortunately) had a lot of deaths involved.

Back of the line people, back of the line!

With the wildly crazy antics of the annual post-Thanksgiving “holiday” it was only a matter of time before South Park would get in on the madness, but no one would ever think that they would mix it in with something just as crazy and violent; Game of Thrones. With death being a recurring theme in the series one can’t help but think that some key secondary characters will die, but who will it/they be?

Winter is coming!

The mere fact that the word “die” and variations of it were muttered throughout the trilogy episode can’t help but have some fans worried that their favorites may meet their ends come the big finale of the epic trilogy, the go to answer would be Matt and Trey making another call back to the first five seasons and having Kenny while attempting to choose the cheaper Wii U or something along those lines, but what about Butters, Craig, Jimmy and others? Will their fates be sealed come tomorrow night?

Who do you think South Park will have killed off should they actually kill any secondary characters?