Solar Opposites Season 5 Gets Promising Update Following Strike Delays

As the show gears up for its next holiday special, showrunners Mike McMahon and Josh Bycel have a promising update on Solar Opposites season 5. The animated Hulu comedy show about a group of alien refugees living on Earth saw some issues during its season 4 production when Justin Roiland was fired as its lead star, but quickly bounced back with Dan Stevens taking over the part. Even prior to his, the show had been renewed for season 5, though encountered delays due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes.

Now, during an interview with Screen Rant for the show’s upcoming Valentine’s Day special, McMahon and Bycel were asked for an update on Solar Opposites season 5. The showrunners confirmed that there is not a release date yet set for the next batch of episodes, particularly as the former joked they wanted to ensure “you little freaks and sickos can watch it in one sitting“, though both eagerly confirmed that the team is “plugging along” and teased some of the things to come from the season. Check out what they shared below:

Mike McMahon: We don’t have a release date yet, but we are plugging along. Obviously, the writers strike and actors strike gave us a little bit of a stunt to get through. But the artists were working away while we were on strike, which we cannot thank them for enough, and things are looking great. We’re seeing color cuts come in for more than halfway through the season. So, I would love to get it out around the same time, but we haven’t figured out a date yet with the network. We drop the whole season at once so that you little freaks and sickos can watch it in one sitting, if you feel like it.

Josh Bycel: And then we have another holiday special for end of this year, as well.

Mike McMahon: Yeah, we have another holiday special we’re working on, so we have an amazing season 5 coming. The Wall is f—ng cool as hell, the Solar stories are hilarious. We’ve got some Silvercops coming that are going to blow you away.

Josh Bycel: Yeah, it’s a whole new genre base, a whole new storyline, which is amazing.

Mike McMahon: Yeah, I cannot wait and, you know, spoiler alerts, like Terry and Korvo are straight up married, and guess what? Doesn’t make their lives easier. [Chuckles] They’re happier, but it’s not easier, so very fun stuff coming your way.

When Solar Opposites Season 5 Could Premiere

Though Bycel and McMahon didn’t have a confirmed date for its release, it does seem likely that Solar Opposites season 5 will premiere sometime this year. While the first two seasons of the show were released during the spring of their respective years, the past two came out during Summer 2022 and 2023. This slightly longer gap between seasons seemed to stem from the introduction of holiday specials, as the first of them, the Christmas special, served as a bridge between seasons 2 and 3.

In looking at this pattern, it does seem likely that Solar Opposites season 5 is on track to premiere on Hulu sometime during Summer 2024. Even with the delays from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, McMahon’s comments above indicate that primary production on the actual animation continued in their stead, even making it so far as to being well over halfway through the next batch of episodes. With recent seasons being comprised of 11 episodes each, that would leave the team with roughly four or five to finish.

The other major indicator that Solar Opposites season 5 will premiere sometime near the end of Summer 2024 is Bycel’s confirmation that another holiday special is planned for the end of the year. It’s unclear which holiday the team are tackling next for their special, but given Christmas and Halloween were already explored with the first two, it seems possible that Thanksgiving would be the next choice. As such, Hulu would likely want to leave room between the end of Solar Opposites season 5 and the next holiday special, putting it somewhere around an August or September arrival.