The Simpsons Showrunner Addresses How Canon Really Works in the Series

The Simpsons made some big changes to the long running animated series with Season 36’s episodes, and the showrunner behind the new season addressed these changes by revealing what they think of the series’ canon. The Simpsons just wrapped its 36th season of the series and had celebrated its 35th anniversary, so its timeline overall has been one of the most intriguing elements of the series. It’s based in a sliding scale thanks to how old many of the characters should be, but also reflective of certain episodes highlighting very clear eras of their pasts. Because it’s gone on for so long, it’s relatively fluid.

Speaking to Cracked, The Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman opened up about fans’ attachment to The Simpsons‘ canonical timeline, and explained that it doesn’t stop them from telling the stories they need to, “We would never let canon stop us from doing a fun story, but what is canon or what is sacrosanct is that we try to write the characters as truthfully to who they’ve always been, even though they are flexible characters.” Making sure to emphasize that Selman himself looks at the series in a completely different way.

The Simpsons Showrunner Shares His Thoughts on Canon

“The fans love having strong opinions, and if they have a favorite philosophy about what happened or didn’t happen or how everything could fit together, I’m not going to challenge that,” Selman began. “If they think that’s what makes a good show — that everything fits together in a perfect puzzle — that’s valid. That’s how they truly feel. I don’t know why they feel that way, but if that’s how they feel, it’s fine.” When asked if it meant that The Simpsons fans could be looking at it wrong, Selman explained that he just looks at it all differently creatively.

“I can’t say that they’re looking at it wrong, I’ll just tell them how I’m looking at it. It’s like Groundhog Day, except all our characters have a vague idea of the things that happened in the past, but they certainly have no emotional memory of every other episode because then they’d be psychologically paralyzed by mania.” Selman continued. “If it makes our viewers feel good to apply a standard of rationality to an elastic world that, from day one, was inherently contradictory and subversive and playful, they should feel it. Feel what you want to feel. But I don’t feel, creatively, that it’s good to be married to a timeline or to be married to canon.”

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Does Canon Matter In The Simpsons?

This all comes after The Simpsons jumped 35 years into the future with its latest finale, and it’s yet another version of a potential future for the characters. It’s completely different from the future seemingly made canon before, but now it’s clear that those behind the scenes are looking at it all in a more flexible way. Although Selman still wants those who pay attention to canon to still watch the series, it’s those The Simpsons has been making fun of for years.

With characters like Comic Book Guy or Database being made the butt of jokes when asking about continuity in the series’ past, The Simpsons has made its stance known on this kind of fan a long time ago. As Selman stated, “But that’s a small percentage of fans, and I don’t believe being playful with that stuff has ever cost us real fans because real fans know the show is silly. I don’t want to seem negative about any of our fans. I love that they’re passionate and they’re smart and they really care. That’s amazing, so I don’t want them to stop watching. I want every fan to keep watching.”

HT – Cracked