Kenny McCormick - Deaths

Deaths

Prior to season six, Kenny died in almost every episode, with only a few exceptions. The nature of the deaths was often gruesome and portrayed in a comically absurd fashion, and usually followed by Stan and Kyle respectively yelling "Oh my God! They/you/he/she/I/we killed Kenny!" and "(You/We're/I'm a) bastard(s)!". Shortly afterward, rats would commonly appear and begin picking at his corpse. Stone and Parker revealed that when either Stan or seldom Cartman exclaims "They killed Kenny!" and Kyle exclaims "You bastard(s)!", it is apparently not directed towards anyone in particular; they are actually referring to Stone and Parker themselves, as though they were an omnipresence within the show's universe. In a following episode, Kenny would reappear alive and well, usually without any explanation. Most characters appear oblivious or indifferent to the phenomenon, although occasionally one will acknowledge an awareness of it. In "Cherokee Hair Tampons", Kenny gets irritated and offended when Stan laments Kyle's critical condition while utterly ignoring Kenny's past demises. Eric Cartman commented on Kenny's deaths in the episode Cartmanland when he is being sued for unsafe rides.

Near the end of the production run of the show's fifth season, Parker and Stone contemplated having an episode in which Kenny was killed off permanently. The reasoning behind the idea was to genuinely surprise fans, and to allow an opportunity to provide a major role for Butters Stotch, a breakout character whose popularity was growing with the viewers and creators of the show. In the episode "Kenny Dies", Kenny dies after developing a terminal muscular disease, while Parker and Stone claimed that Kenny would not be returning in subsequent episodes. The duo insisted they grew tired of upholding the tradition of having Kenny die in each episode. Stone stated that thinking of humorous ways to kill the character was initially fun, but became more mundane as the series progressed. When they determined that it would be too difficult to develop the character because he was too much of a "prop", Parker and Stone finally decided to kill off Kenny permanently.

was the one episode where cared 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

For much of season six, Kenny remained gone from the show, though both Stone and Parker entertained the idea of eventually bringing the character back. According to Stone, only a small minority of fans were significantly angered by Kenny's absence to threaten a boycott of the cable channel Comedy Central, on which South Park is aired. For most of the season, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman fill the void left by Kenny by allowing the characters Butters Stotch and Tweek Tweak into their group, paving the way for the characters to receive more focus on the show. Nevertheless, Kenny returned from the year-long absence in the season six finale "Red Sleigh Down", and has remained a starring character ever since. His character no longer dies each week, and has only been killed occasionally in episodes following his return.

The first explanation given for Kenny's deaths and reappearances was given in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", wherein the McCormicks have a baby exactly like Kenny, including the characteristic orange parka, shortly after the former Kenny dies. Mr. McCormick exclaims, "God, this must be the fiftieth time this has happened", to which Mrs. McCormick quickly replies, "Fifty-second". (The episode is the fifty-third in the series, but Kenny was spared in the first season Christmas episode). This explanation is expanded upon in the Season 14 episodes "Coon 2: Hindsight", "Mysterion Rises" and "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", in which Kenny, while playing superheroes with his friends, claims his "super power" is immortality. He actually dies several times during these episodes—even committing suicide more than once—reawakening in his bed each time. He is annoyed and angry that no one can remember him dying every time he regenerates, and longs to know the source of his power. Unbeknownst to him, his parents were previously connected to a Cthulhu-worshipping death cult. After Kenny shoots himself the second time, Mrs. McCormick awakes with a scream, shrieks "It's happening again!", and minutes later, is shown gently placing a newborn Kenny in his bed. "We should never have gone to that stupid cult meeting," she grouses as she and her husband return to bed.

It was also hinted in the episode "Cripple Fight" that Kenny's trademark orange parka may be the main reason he is killed, as when the character Jimmy Valmer wears the same parka, he is nearly killed by various causes (a spaceship, gunfire, a car, and a stampede of cows), that occurred a split second after he put the parka on.