The Simpsons has returned with Season 37 of the long running animated series with Fox, but don’t worry, its new season premiere didn’t kill off another classic character. The Simpsons has been going through a very experimental era in recent years as not only has it been changing its format to deliver new kinds of episodes and stories, but there have also been some surprise changes to the status quo. This led to a major death not long ago, and the new season premiere had startled a lot of fans with another potential character death happening off screen without anyone realizing it.
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The Simpsons Season 37 premieres with a fun episode that highlights Lisa and Marge’s relationship through the lens of 1990s nostalgia, and sees the two connect through a shared love of fashion and a classic teen show of that era. But as Lisa finds new fashion forward friends in the premiere episode, there’s a joke that her longtime music teacher, Dewey Largo (otherwise known as Mr. Largo), had since been killed off screen. But the executive producers behind the episode thankfully confirm that this wasn’t the case in a recent talk with TV Line.
The Simpsons Execs Debunk Mr. Largo’s Death in Season 37 Premiere
The Simpsons Season 37 Episode 1, “Thrifty Ways to Thieve Your Mother,” sees Lisa getting closer with some fashion forward students who invite her to their fashion club. Surprised to see it in a now empty music room, Lisa wonders how that’s possible to which her new friend Deavin explains, “We took it over when Mr. Largo died.” Only to then clear up the matter with, “Or he has jury duty. It was something dumb.” The Simpsons co-executive producers Cesar Mazariegos and Jessica Conrad thankfully confirmed that the series didn’t decide to kill off Mr. Largo in a one-off joke like this.
Conrad, who wrote the episode in question, then revealed she wasn’t worried about fan reaction to the joke, and that “for something like this, I would welcome the riling up if you actually believe that would kill him off off-camera.” Mazariegos then further explained that killing off a long time character for the series would likely result in a much longer exploration of the idea through a potential full episode rather than just a single blink and you’ll miss it kind of gag. It’s taken that seriously.
Why The Simpsons Doesn’t Kill Off Many Characters
“When we killed off Larry the Barfly last year, that was a big discussion. ‘How do we do it? Should it be that guy, or should it be trucker hat guy?’ Anything that’s that big, where there’s a whole episode about it, we for sure think about it,” Mazariegos noted. “But we usually don’t want to get rid of our characters. And it’s such a cartoony world. We know even if Moleman is in a car that explodes, it doesn’t mean he’s dead forever.” But given the response from fans about its deaths in the past, it does make sense why The Simpsons team would tread more carefully.
Even just the thought of a longtime character like Marge potentially dying in the future of The Simpsons timeline was enough for fans to worry that the franchise was getting rid of the character entirely. It does stand to reason why they want to be careful with any kind of status quo shifts like this. Because even if Mr. Largo isn’t the most used character in recent years, his absence would still leave an impact with fans regardless.
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