Tom Hanks Bringing Back David S. Pumpkins for ‘SNL’ Animated Halloween Special

Trick or treat?

Saturday Night Live has been reliably decent for a while now. However, if you’ve watched the show for decades, there can be feeling it’s long past the days when the majority of a 90-minute episode might produce classic sketches—lines that are quoted and referenced for years after. 

Classics still happen, though, and Tom Hanks’ “David S. Pumpkins” Halloween sketch from October, 2016 immediately became an all-time great SNL sketch the morning after the show. 

So naturally, the mysterious Mr. Pumpkins and his dancing skeleton sidekicks are getting their own animated special, reports Deadline. 

And why not? Watching it almost a year after it first went viral, it’s still 4:30 of slowly spiraling, weird hilarity. It’s just inexplicably funny, in great part because Hanks—America’s dad—sells the hell out of it. 

Here’s the plot of the ‘toon, according to Deadline:

Hanks will appear on camera at the beginning of the half-hour, as well as voice the animated character.


Set in a small suburban town on All Hallows’ Eve, the special centers on David Pumpkins and his skeleton sidekicks who show a young boy and his sister the true meaning of Halloween, answering none of their questions along the way.

Okay, we’re already in. 

We predict this will become a seasonal classic, right up there with It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. 

Honestly, we’d love a crossover, perhaps It’s David S. Pumpkins! Any Questions, Charlie Brown? Because, you know, pumpkins and stuff.

The David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special is set to air on October 28 at 11:30 PM ET and PT.