The Simpsons has long been crowned the longest-running TV series in American history (it passed Gunsmoke‘s record in 2018), but the animated family’s adventures show no sign of stopping anytime soon. Even if Fox was thinking of winding down the series, the Disney takeover has only reinvigorated the brand, with The Simpsons finding renewed global popularity thanks to Disney Plus.
For that reason, one Simpsons veteran doesn’t see an end for the series in sight for the moment. Yeardley Smith, who has voiced the family’s middle-child Lisa since its beginnings in 1989, spoke all things Simpsons with The Movie Dweeb and was asked if there had been any talks about a potential series finale. Smith confirmed that there never has been, even as it heads into its 34th season.
“No, actually, not seriously. We just started recording Season 34, which is a crazy sentence in and of itself, because most shows last, you’re lucky if it lasts five years, which means you hit the 100 episode mark, which means you’ll get residuals. But nowadays, even three seasons is– the whole, streaming just upended the entire industry,”
Smith went on to say that she doubts Disney would quietly cancel the show at this stage. Even if they did wish to call it a day, the actress imagines the studio would want to make a big deal out of it in order to reap the most out of what would potentially be a huge pop culture event.
“We started recording Season 34 and it’s the last of our two season pickups. We had a pickup for 33 and 34, but I feel like we would be given a pretty big heads-up for the last season because, at the very least, Disney who bought Fox, all but Fox News and Fox Sports, part of the reason they bought it was for The Simpsons. Also, if it was the last season, I think they would want to capitalize on that and make bazillions on advertising.”
Though Smith is aware she can’t tell the future, the actress stressed that she thinks Disney will want as much Simpsons as possible in order to keep on fueling its streaming needs.
“I’d never say the job is safe, but I feel like considering how much content streaming services need, they can never have enough. If somebody is literally going to binge your whole series in a weekend, you’re f–cked! How do you keep that voracious appetite fed? It’s a huge thing.”
As Smith says, The Simpsons has already been renewed for season 34, although this is currently the last to be officially greenlit at this time. Fox has traditionally ordered more from the show in batches of multiple seasons, however, so if another renewal does come, then it should secure the family’s future for another few years. Unless Disney really is thinking about wrapping it up after season 35, but Smith makes a good case for why that’s unlikely to happen.