Yesterday at the ATX Television Festival, Simpsons producer and showrunner Al Jean offered a packed house a few bits of info about the upcoming season. Spider-Pig will be coming back. Lena Dunham will voice a character. And Sideshow Bob will finally kill Bart Simpson.
Jean was joined by executive producer James L. Brooks, writer Matt Selman, and animator/director David Silverman at Austin, Texas’s State Theatre to talk about the “evolution” of The Simpsons over the last 25 years. Jean related that he always wanted Wile E. Coyote to get the Road Runner, and in season 27, we’ll allegedly get to see Sideshow Bob, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, quench his bloodlust on the Halloween episode.
.@thesimpsons #EverySimpsonsEver Amazed how excited the media are to report in the murder of a ten year old boy http://t.co/sytwCFzA9H
— Al Jean (@AlJean) June 7, 2015
In an interview with the Daily Dot before the panel, Jean said the Harry Shearer issue is still not resolved but they should soon know whether it’s yes or no. When asked when he saw The Simpsons go from counterculture to being culture, he had this to say:
“I have two daughters, and when the older one was in school, they had a handbook that said, ‘No T-shirts permitted, e.g, Bart Simpson.’ And now they want cels to donate at their auctions and want me to speak at the school and, well, that’s certainly changed.”
Indeed. While the murder of Bart at the hands of Sideshow Bob is only inferred, it will be interesting to see how they frame it. Bob’s pretty good at playing the long game. What would he do without Bart?
Screengrab via Simpsonit SuomiTv/YouTube