The Simpsons Will Kiss Someone Goodbye

The fans of the popular TV show The Simpsons were surprised recently by some shocking news. Executive producer Al Jean revealed to the press during a conference that the writers are "working on a script where a character will pass away”. He explained that they’ll kill off a character because “we think it has a good emotional through line". He also said that he expects the episode with death to obtain "Breaking Bad-type numbers".

At this moment, it’s not known when the death will happen. "The story will be produced this year though it may air in season 26”. Jean stated. It’s also unknown whether the character will die of natural causes or will get killed by someone. Jean only said that the character will die in a funny way and that “It’s an emotional story”.

Details are scarce. Not even the actor who gives voice to the character knows that his or her character will die. The only big hint given was that the actor who gives voice to the character won an Emmy for his or her role.

During the show’s long run, four actors have won an Emmy for their role in The Simpsons: Anne Hathaway, who played a minor character called Penelope that only appeared in one episode; Dan Castella, who gives voice to Homer Simpson, Grandpa Simpsons, Mayor Quimby, Krusty, Barney, Groundskeeper Willie, Sideshow Mel; Hank Azaria, who plays several characters, including Moe, Chief Wiggum, Cletus, Comic Book Guy and Apu; and actor Kelsey Grammer, who plays recurrent villain Sideshow Bob.  

Jean stated that the character has appeared on the show “More than twice”, which rules out the character played by Anne Hathaway. “I think Moe might finally end up killing himself”, a fan identified as ilyaboris speculated in the boards of IMDB.com.

Thorough the show’s 25 seasons, several characters have died. However, some of those deaths had little or no impact on the show. For instance, after gangster Fat Tony passed away, his cousin Fit Tony took his place in the criminal organization. Soon, Fit Tony began overeating due the pressures of being the mafia’s leader and gained a lot of weigh. Hence, people started calling Fat Tony and the status quo was restored.

Also, Homer’s mother, called Mona Simpson, died in a very emotional episode from the 19th season titled “Mona Leaves-a”.  Her death, however, didn’t have a major impact on the show since the character didn’t appear very often anyway.

The death that has had a bigger impact on the show was definitely the passing of Maude Flanders, Ned Flanders’ wife.  Maude died in an episode of the 11th season titled "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", after Homer accidentally knocked her off a racetrack grandstand by t-shirts shot from cannons. The character was eliminated because of problems with the actress who did the voice, Maggie Roswell. This death affected the show the most, since Ned Flanders would later remarry to Edna, which was a major plot twist. 

It is not known yet whether the upcoming death will be as significant al Maude’s.