Against All Odds, The Best Animated Show Of 2025 Is Actually Getting A Second Season

On paper, renewing "Common Side Effects" for a second season is a no-brainer. The Adult Swim series, which is about two former high school lab partners named Marshall and Frances who discover a magical mushroom with healing properties that can cure just about everything and must face-off against big pharma, international businessmen, and the United States federal Drug Enforcement Administration, was created by Joe Bennett (the incredible "Scavengers Reign") and Steve Hely ("Veep"), and features Mike Judge and Greg Daniels ("King of the Hill") as executive producers. With a roster of above-the-line talent boasting such an impressive resume, the name value alone in any other era would justify at least three seasons without a second thought.

Unfortunately, we're living in a time where animation is continually being devalued. "Fired On Mars," one of the best new animated shows of 2023, has still not been given the green light on a follow-up season, and fans are still waiting with bated breath to see what the future holds for the live-action/animation hybrid film "Coyote vs. Acme." Fortunately, "Common Side Effects" lives to see another day, which is great news for fans and even better news for the people who foolishly slept on season 1.

"Joe and Steve did their job by crafting a boundary-pushing and genre-defining piece of television that re-frames what 'adult animation' is capable of," said Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen in a statement. "And you all did your job by showing up on Adult Swim and Max to support the show and lighting up your socials to spread the word. So, see? We CAN have nice things." Adult Swim continues to be one of the only algorithm-proof companies still making TV that feels original, evolutionary, and yes, dangerous, and that includes "Common Side Effects." The trippy, comedic mystery is a testament to what is possible when animators are allowed to lean into their creative brilliance, and with a perfect 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's very clearly paid off.

I've been hollering for years about the misconception that animation is a medium solely for children, and while general audiences are starting to understand this to be true, the overwhelming majority still only understand the medium as a platform for sitcoms like "The Simpsons," "Family Guy," "Bob's Burgers," "American Dad," and "South Park." No disrespect to any of these institutions, but there is so much more to adult animation than that.

"Common Side Effects," for example, uses the discovery of the blue Peruvian mushroom to play with hallucinogenic visuals that are extremely effective given the series' medium but also tackles incredibly adult themes like government corruption and the evils of capitalism. Considering the mushroom's magical healing properties, Marshall and Frances have to stand up against institutional powers who want to destroy the mushroom (as it would completely erase the need for the pharmaceutical industry), while others want to selfishly hoard the power for their own profit. At the same time, there are morally gray waters that characters find themselves wading in, inspiring existential, ethical conundrums for the characters on screen and the audiences watching at home.

"We are grateful for the enthusiastic response to 'Common Side Effects' and are thrilled to continue exploring this world with our amazing team and the fans who have embraced the show," said co-creators Bennett and Hely in a statement. "The opportunity to push the boundaries of animation and storytelling on Adult Swim is like a wonderful mushroom dream. Our goal with the show is to transform planet Earth and restore the human spirit. For now, we will settle for a second season."

There is a good chance that this article is the first you're hearing about "Common Side Effects" (except for you, you're cool), but the series' successful word-of-mouth popularity is a massive contributing factor to the show's renewal. After airing new episodes on Adult Swim, the show would later become available on the Max streaming service, consistently winding up on the Top 10 most-watched shows list. Continuously popping up on the streamer's homepage helped put the show on the radar of cord-cutters and motivated those who had been putting off watching it to bump it up on their watchlists.

Because the thing is, there's nothing else on TV that feels like "Common Side Effects," with ambitious storylines, inventive animation, and a willingness to thrust the audience into a surreal world of monomania and elevated states of consciousness. It's not an easy show for an algorithm to make sense of its data to promote it to people as an "If you liked watching this, you should try watching this" suggestion. There is a distinctly human element required when talking about "Common Side Effects" because it's a show that thrives off contradictions. It's a paranoid conspiracy thriller that runs on hope. It's an examination of the radical extremists of yesteryear as more than just lunatics to ignore, while also acknowledging that it might be the corrupt systems making us all feel crazy all the time. It's laugh-out-loud funny one moment and "laugh to keep from crying" the next. But the true magic of "Common Side Effects" is that like the magical mushroom at the center of the conflict, it's a story about still wanting to heal the world — even when it's been nothing but hostile, cruel, and unforgiving. We should consider ourselves lucky to be able to enjoy a show like this, and given our current entertainment landscape, it's no small miracle that the show will continue beyond one season.

The finale episode of the debut season of "Common Side Effects" will air this Sunday at 11:30pm ET/PT on Adult Swim.