Nickelodeon treated fans to an exclusive SpongeBob SquarePants panel at New York Comic Con 2024, revisiting the brand’s origins and revealing what’s ahead for the world’s most famous sea sponge and Bikini Bottom denizens. The festivities are the latest celebrating the super-positive porous hero’s 25th anniversary year.
The show’s familiar voice stars Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs) and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton), along with executive producers Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller, brought the F.U.N. to mark the animated series’ big quarter century birthday. The NYCC panel was moderated by podcast host & writer Matt Forte, and featured live table reads by the cast of fan-favorite SpongeBob SquarePants episodes “Band Geeks” (Season 2) and “Scaredy Pants” (Season 1).
The session revealed The Patrick Star Show’s renewal for Seasons 4 and 5 (13 episodes each), which will continue to tell brand-new stories about one of the most beloved best friends in TV history: Patrick Star. The Patrick Star Show, the second SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff, centers on Patrick and his family as they are constantly disrupted by his wild whims and surreal imagination. All new Season 3 episodes will continue to air across Nickelodeon.
Fans were treated to a new clip from the upcoming half-hour 25th anniversary special, SpongeBob SquarePants “Snow Yellow,” slated to debut in November on Nickelodeon. In the special, when Snow Yellow is deemed the “squarest of them all,” the evil Queen Karen seeks to claim the title for herself by any means necessary.
Attendees also got an exclusive first look at the stop-motion 25th anniversary special SpongeBob SquarePants “SpongeBob & Sandy’s Country Christmas,” premiering in December on Nickelodeon and Paramount+. In the half-hour special, when one of Sandy’s experiments goes awry, the Cheeks family team up to save Christmas in Bikini Bottom. The special features Craig Robinson as Pa Cheeks, Johnny Knoxville as Randy Cheeks and Grey Delisle as Ma Cheeks, Granny Cheeks, Rosie and Rowdy, reprising their roles as Sandy’s family from the recently released movie Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie.
Another highlight was a sneak peek at The Patrick Star Show “Thanks But No Thanksgiving,” wherein the Stars celebrate Thanksgiving with Bunny’s side of the family in Klopnod, and the reveal of first-look images (seen throughout this post) of the half-hour holiday special “Squidina’s Holidaze Special,” where Squidina has to direct her school holiday play, but her script was mangled by Patrick.
Since its launch July 17, 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants has generated a universe of beloved characters, pop culture catchphrases and memes, theatrical releases, consumer products, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and a global fan base. SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most widely distributed properties in Paramount history, seen in more than 180 markets, translated in 30+ languages, and averaging more than 90 million total viewers every quarter.
SpongeBob SquarePants was created by Stephen Hillenburg and produced by Nickelodeon in Burbank, Calif. The character-driven cartoon chronicles the nautical and sometimes nonsensical adventures of SpongeBob, an incurable optimist and earnest sea
sponge, and his undersea friends.
