Chef returns to South Park?

The new season of South Park kicks off tomorrow evening, and if you've been watching the promos, you might have noticed the newest episode will supposedly focus on Chef's return to South Park.

But wait, didn't Isaac Hayes, the man who plays Chef, leave the show over its satirical jabs at religion (*cough* Scientology *cough*)? Yes, in fact, he did, which is leading to some speculation as to exactly how his character will be used and whether Parker and Stone plan to use the episode to make fun of Hayes and the whole Scientology debacle. Of course, some are speculating there's more to Hayes' departure than we realize. Remember that since South Park is created on computers it's easy to throw together an episode at the last minute, and possibly that's what happened here. According to a network synopsis of the episode, Chef returns to South Park, but with noticeable changes in his personality, and the boys try to help him get back to normal. Seems like even if the show turns out not to be about the recent rhubarb, its creators are using it to get people intrigued about the new episode.