The Simpsons Producer Confirms One Character is Very Much Alive

In The Simpsons season 36 finale, many fans wondered the fate of one of the animated series’ biggest characters. Homer, Marge, Maggie, Bart, and Lisa were confirmed for several new seasons, all the way up until season forty. With the latest episode seemingly taking a character off the map, the show’s executive producer, Matt Selman, felt the need to reassure everyone that one member of Springfield’s finest wasn’t going anywhere. In confirming that one character is alive, the producer also stated that the show’s “canon” isn’t something that fans need to necessarily rely on moving forward.

Selman broke the ice in a recent interview with Variety, stating that Marge was not dead despite being deceased in the look into the future in the episode, “Estranger Things.” The executive producer proclaimed that “there is no canon” for the series and hilariously reiterated, “The Simpsons doesn’t even have canon!’” Selman went into further detail regarding the future scene, “Obviously since the ‘The Simpsons’ future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they’re all different every time. Marge will probably never be dead ever again. The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago.”

Read Next

The Simpsons Brings Back Missing Family Member After 8 Years

Marge Be Not Proud

Selman had harsh words for sites that reported Marge had died, “Here’s my take: Websites need traffic, and headlines equal traffic and then you can explain that the headline was misleading at the very end of the article. Every single media outlet that ran this story knew that in no way was Marge dead. They all knew it, but they ran the headline anyway.” While Matt might have been harsh in one respect, he did find it touching that fans were sad to potentially see Marge gone, “I guess this speaks to the fact that people care about Marge. At the end of the day, it’s probably good for business even when these ridiculous, misleading stories go viral!”

So why did “Estranger Things” decide to take a trip to the future? The main story of the season finale saw Lisa and Bart drift apart, with this fact remaining long into their teenage and adult years. It is only when an old video of Marge resurfaces, begging her children to rely on one another, that fences are mended and everything is put right.

This latest episode is far from the only time that The Simpsons decided to point a lens at the far off future of the family. There have been almost too many episodes to count where we’ve seen adult versions of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, with elderly iterations of Homer and Marge seeing their children leave the nest. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the future is explored in the next several seasons though we highly doubt that many of the events taking place in said future will actually become a part of the show’s continuity.

Want to see what the future truly holds for Springfield’s premiere family? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on The Simpsons and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.