The Simpsons’ Al Jean Celebrates Release of “May the 12th Be With You” Short

Decades’ worth of The Simpsons episodes being on Disney+ is an exciting enough reason to subscribe to the platform, but if that isn’t enough, the streamer has become home to a number of original Simpsons shorts that allow stories to be told that would be otherwise more challenging in a proper episode. In the latest original short, “May the 12th Be With You,” Marge Simpson collides with a number of beloved figures from the vast Disney library, embarking on a hilarious adventure in honor of Mother’s Day. To celebrate the new short, which is available now on Disney+, ComicBook caught up with showrunner Al Jean by email to talk about the new story.

Disney+ describes the short, “It’s Mother’s Day and Marge Simpson joins the moms of Disney+ on a special holiday outing that turns into an epic galactic adventure filled with heroes, villains, and a surprising old friend.”

As implied by the title, the premise is heavily connected to Star Wars and the galaxy far, far way, with Jean detailing of the development of the story, “We’ve always wanted to do a short at a Disney theme park and Mother’s Day seemed the perfect day to do it.”

Like previous shorts, this latest experience features dozens of cameos from all corners of the Disney library, from classics like Bambi to Lilo & Stitch to Pixar’s more recent Soul. As far as getting all the characters into the short that he had asked for, Jean joked, “We got all we asked for although there may only be 99 dalmatians.A couple had scheduling conflicts.”

With Disney+ and Hulu now being available not only as subscription bundles, but also by integrating Hulu content into the Disney+ interface, the ending of the short allowed for an exciting crossover with some adult-leaning figures, including The Family Guy‘s Stewie. Jean was particularly proud of bringing both Stewie and Seth McFarlane into the fold to voice the iconic character, confessing of his favorite cameo, “In this case, definitely getting Seth MacFarlane to voice Stewie at the grand finale.”

Jean has previously expressed that one motivating factor in developing The Simpsons shorts is by looking at the tiles on the Disney+ platform that highlight major franchises, whether they be Marvel, Star Wars, or Pixar. With the Hulu integration and with cameos from the expanded Fox roster of characters, Jean weighed in on if this is paving the way for crossovers with Hulu originals like Only Murders in the Building or The Bear, to which the showrunner teased, “All possible but now and forever our heart and soul and intellectual property belong to Disney+.”

One of the most exciting announcements about Disney+ in recent months was the reveal that Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) would be the exclusive streaming on the service. With The Simpsons previously having offered a crossover with Billie Eilish and whether this means a Swift collab was in the works, Jean expressed, “I personally would love to see it.Billie was great.Also, who knows, maybe The Beatles?”

The Simpsons‘ “May the 12th Be With You” is streaming now on Disney+.

What did you think of the short? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!