How The Simpsons Will Actually End

The Simpsons Season 36 premiered with a fake out "series finale," but how will it actually all end?

By Nick Valdez

The Simpsons currently exists in a place that no other franchise could ever possibly reach. Because of the strength of its early seasons, The Simpsons has become a pop culture juggernaut with some of the most iconic characters in animation history. At the same time, it's also been derided by fans through the decades for not seeming like it's operating at the same level it used to. The Simpsons' modern era is currently a unique blend of those who have been with the animated sitcom from the very beginning, and those who have actually grown up with the series through its 35 seasons thus far. 

This all seemed to come to a peak with the premiere for The Simpsons Season 36, "Bart's Birthday." While the last few seasons have had a few experimental episodes that saw The Simpsons openly playing with the fact that it's in such a unique standing after all these decades, this season premiere seemed to take the biggest swing yet. Revealing what it could look like if The Simpsons actually came to an end with a grandstanding series finale, the fake out ending actually revealed how a long running animated sitcom like this could really come to an end. It won't be with a big event type of episode. It'll be just like all the others. 

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(Photo: 20th Television Animation)

Will The Simpsons Ever End? 

The Simpsons needing to end has been one of the things fans have been debating about ever since the tenth season mark. It actually began a bit earlier as fans had started to note a "dip" in quality from what was seen in Seasons 7 and 8, and seemed to really start picking up speed with fans around Season 10 and beyond. The Simpsons is no stranger to that kind of criticism, or even challenging it head on as seen in the likes of Season 13 clip show episode, "Gump Roast," which has a final song joking they'll have "stories for years" (which actually made a return during the Season 36 premiere as another wacky challenge to this idea). 

The Simpsons has been getting this kind of criticism from fans for decades, and yet has still continued through milestone after milestone. 20th Television Animation and Disney have even made it one of the pillars of the company following Disney's acquisition of Fox, and have continued to support the long running animated sitcom up to the now airing Season 36. It's highly likely that those fans who say that The Simpsons isn't as good as it used to be (who honestly haven't seen a new episode of the show in decades) have since been replaced by fans who have grown up with the later generation seasons. Through its many generations, The Simpsons has also changed in some significant ways. 

Although the series has been getting criticism from fans, and has even had some major stinkers over the years (with Season 23's "Lisa Goes Gaga" forever standing out as a big example...which is also referenced in "Bart's Birthday"), The Simpsons is still going strong with no signs of ever slowing down. It currently sits at 769 episodes aired, and current showrunner Matt Selman recently spoke about his confidence in the series to continue thanks to how much luck it's had so far, joking it'd reach and "infinite" number of episodes someday, "If history has been any indication, all attempts to 'predict' the end of The Simpsons have been way off. So just to be safe, I'll confidently say that The Simpsons will someday reach an infinite number of episodes."

What helps this longevity is the unique position The Simpsons finds itself in. Because it's both been criticized for so long, and because it was loved even longer, The Simpsons is more confident in itself than ever before. The latest few seasons have taken that spirit and started playing more with series like some of the best episodes of the past. Episodes from the "golden era" like "22 Short Films About Springfield," "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" and "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" were heralded for how they tweaked the sitcom formula for laughs. That's exactly what has been seen again with surprise episodes like "Not it," "Thanksgiving of Horror," "Pixelated and Afraid," "A Serious Flanders," "Lisa the Boy Scout," and "My Life as a Vlog," and those are just examples from the Selman led last few seasons. 

The Simpsons is able to look at its current self, and mine its past for some new angles on it all. Then it gets an additional meta-narrative benefit from acknowledging its past mistakes and misfortunes for new laughs. It's what is seen in the Season 36 premiere, "Bart's Birthday," which ends up being a perfect encapsulation of this ideology as it lampoons the idea that a show like this can even have a finale. It's such a massive undertaking in just concept alone as The Simpsons has been running for so long, and has had so many eras, that a finale that could somehow satisfy everyone would be impossible. And that's why The Simpsons is going to go the opposite round when it actually ends. 

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(Photo: 20th Century Animation)

How Will The Simpsons End?

The Simpsons at this point can literally going on forever. While there's no desire from those involved to replace the actors at the center of it all, there will come a time where that will need to happen. Barring some major tragedy that will make it better to end the show than continue, The Simpsons will likely never actually end. It will continue in a new form just as it has for so many years at this point. New creatives will take over, new voices will be at its center, and it's such a landmark franchise that it's basically built into television. For as long as television of any kind exists, this series will as well. But what if it does end? How does The Simpsons even approach that ending? By going small. 

"Bart's Birthday" offered a potential route for a The Simpsons series finale to go. When the final episode does finally air, it's going to attract a ton of attention with a huge event regardless of the content of the episode itself. Lapsed fans will tune in to see how it ends, curious folks who have never seen an episode will finally check it out just to see how it all ends, and it's going to be huge. But funny enough, that's also not what The Simpsons is at its core. Even for as wacky as it's gotten over the years and in some episodes, it's never been huge in scope outside of what was seen in The Simpsons Movie. 

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It's an animated sitcom at the end of the day. Every episode returns the series to its status quo, and "Bart's Birthday" approaches this idea with other series finales that showcase how the status quo can move forward as the series officially ends. Without all of its grandstanding, even the core of this finale was just Bart celebrating his 11th birthday. And this will be how The Simpsons' final episode will end as well. It's going to be a small story that ends with The Simpsons family moving forward in their lives. 

Or maybe it won't. The Simpsons is more likely to end with yet another return to the status quo in its final episode, and then it'll be over. It's going to be a solid 22 minutes of a small, family issue that's resolved by the time it ends. There have been episodes lauded as potential finales in the past like with "Holidays of Future Passed," and they were basically the same idea. Just a fun episode like all of the others that happens to be the final one. It's the best route The Simpsons can take with its ending. Going big won't satisfy everyone, and it's virtually impossible to do so anyway. So just a casual episode full of laughs as it all ends will be the best way to send this off into the sunset. 

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