The Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman has revealed that he hopes the show’s eventual final episode will just be “a really good story about the family.”
The long-running animated series teased fans earlier this year with a spoof ‘finale’ that imagined how AI would attempt to create an effective finale.
Speaking to The New York Post, Selman said that episode, which was in fact the premiere episode of the show’s 36th season, was inspired by the impossibility of ending the show satisfactorily.
“The discussion that it would be so hard to do a last episode is what led to the fake series finale,” said Selman. “That it’s sort of an impossible thing.”
“The show isn’t meant to end,” he continued. “To do a sappy crappo series finale, like most other shows do, would be so lame. So we just did one that was like over the top.”
Selman went on to say that he hoped that if the show ever does end, it would finish with “a regular episode.”
“The characters in this crazy show don’t age,” he pointed out. “I think later we’ll just pick an episode and say that was the last one. No self-aware stuff. Or, one self-aware joke.”
He added that he thought the final episode would hopefully be “a really good story about the family,” and added that so many people’s ideas for a series finale “are based on having watched other last shows.”
“And I don’t think it should be a response to the litany of last shows that already exist. We covered that area,” he explained, referring to the fake finale episode that included animated recreations of final shots of shows including The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Succession.
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Selman joked: “[The last episode will be] a parody of A Christmas Carol with [Mr Burns] as Scrooge. The laziest idea!”
The Simpsons writer Carolyn Omine also told the publication her thoughts on a potential final episode, saying: “I’ve heard a few people say ‘I think it should be this’ or ‘I think it should be that.’ And it’s hard, because what the show is kind of keeps changing. So it can’t be the idea you’ve had in your pocket for a while.”
When the fake finale aired in October, viewers quickly jumped to social media to share their surprise at what they believed to have been a well-kept secret.
“IS THIS ACTUALLY THE SIMPSONS SERIES FINALE????” one asked, with another chiming in: “Wait, it’s like not REALLY The Simpsons Series Finale is it!? WTF!”
An additional viewer wrote on X/Twitter: “ Am I really watching the series finale of The Simpsons? Wtf. I don’t remember that announcement.”