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The Simpsons Creator Reveals the Dark Reason Why the Series Will End

The Simpsons’ creator reveals the dark truth over the only reason why the long running series could end

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The Simpsons is currently in the works on returning with a milestone Season 37 of the animated series, but the creator behind it all revealed the dark (and only) way the series will actually come to an end. The Simpsons recently announced a massive deal with Fox for four more seasons following the debut of Season 36. This is a big deal for Fox as the network looks to expand all of their adult animated franchises, but also means that when the deal is up, The Simpsons will then be sitting with 40 seasons when its all said and done.

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The Simpsons is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon as it even gets ready to cross its 800th episode mark in its coming Season 37, but fans are still wondering about what the end of the series could look like. There’s an even bigger question over exactly when the series could end, and creator Matt Groening revealed during the series’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 that the plan is to keep going “until somebody dies.” Which is an unfortunately dark truth that fans will have to sit with, even if it’s said in jest.

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When Will The Simpsons End?

“I honestly thought 36 was where we were going to end it,” The Simpsons creator Matt Groening mentioned during San Diego Comic-Con 2025. “No, thereโ€™s no end in sight. Weโ€™re going to keep going. Weโ€™re going to go until somebody dies.” This might have been said jokingly, but it’s an unfortunate fact that longtime fans have been sitting with all this time. 35 years after The Simpsons first began much of the original voice cast are still with the series. It wasn’t even until this past season that the voice cast was hit by a significant change in its core cast with Pamela Hayden’s retirement.

This means that as The Simpsons heads into Season 40, there could be even more changes of its core cast. If the worst case scenario were to happen with a sudden passing, then The Simpsons is going to have to deal with a very tough decision. If a main cast member leaves the show off their own accord, they will likely be recast for future episodes. But if “somebody dies,” The Simpsons might decide to end given that it’s too big of a loss for the franchise on a whole.

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How Will The Simpsons End?

From all those behind the scenes, it seems the general attitude for The Simpsons is to just keep making it for as long as possible. The Simpsons began Season 36 of the animated series with a premiere episode making fun of how a series finale for the franchise could actually happen, and threw it all out by the episode’s end. It was a way to not only cement that the franchise wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but also reflect the fact that The Simpsons likely won’t be able to have some kind of grandiose finale.

With milestone episodes already presenting the opportunity for a perfect series finale in the past, and The Simpsons Movie bringing it to theaters, The Simpsons‘ best option to end would just to have a final episode. It’s going to be a standard episode with the family doing something, but just happens to be the last one ever made. But even with potential dark truths lingering overhead, hopefully The Simpsons will still be around for a long while.