Exciting new details have been revealed for The Simpsons season 34. Originally created as a series of shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, a variety program that aired from 1987 to 1990. The Simpsons made its debut in 1989 on the Fox Network and was immediately beloved by audiences. Since the show’s inception, The Simpsons has been on the air for over three decades and have produced over 700 episodes, making it the longest-running sitcom and scripted show in American television history.
The Simpsons centers on the disorderly yet affable Simpson family which consists of Homer (Dan Castellaneta), Marge (Julie Kavner), Bart (Nancy Cartwright), Lisa (Yeardley Smith), and Maggie. As its seasons progressed throughout the years, the show continued to poke fun at pop culture while bringing in major celebrity guests to attract audiences. Season 34 appears to be no different as The Simpsons aims to maintain its recognition as one of the best adult animated shows on television today.
In a recent interview with Deadline, The Simpsons‘ showrunner, Matt Selman, revealed plenty of story details for season 34. The producer discussed the traditional Halloween “Treehouse of Horror” episodes, sharing how the season-themed concept will be spit into two episodes featuring parodies of the Death Note anime and Stephen King’s IT with Krusty the Clown (Castellaneta) as Pennywise. Also, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star, Simu Liu, is set to star in an episode as Lisa’s “perfect future boyfriend” while Bridesmaids‘ Melissa McCarthy will also feature in a “huge guest part.” Read all of that and more story teases below.
I’m excited about Season 34. It’s probably the best 34th season of any show you’ve ever seen. We have two Halloween episodes this year, two “Treehouse of Horror” episodes. One is three scary stories like we always do, but very scary and weird. We have an anime parody of Death Note, which I’m so excited about. The full-length episode is a parody of Stephen King’s book It with, get ready for it, Krusty as Pennywise. We have Simu Liu from Marvel’s Shang-Chi in an upcoming show as Lisa’s perfect future boyfriend. We have our season premiere where Homer gets into a conspiracy cabal while hunting down a missing turtle. I’m very excited about one where Krusty has a kind of nice-guy-type afternoon syndicated Ellen DeGeneres talk show that surprisingly goes awry. And then we have huge guest part for iconic comedy legend Melissa McCarthy coming up. It’s a really juicy, funny part where she plays a kid who’s Homer’s rival for love from Grandpa. She’s plays kind of a quirky kid who has Grandpa’s love and Homer’s like, “Why does Grandpa like this kid? And why didn’t he like me?” It’s really emotional as well. And we have another crazy conceptual episode that explains how The Simpsons know the future. It’s a conceptual episode with lots of crazy stuff in it, but it does an explanation of how The Simpsons can predict the future.
I’m very excited about Season 34. You can’t just rest on your laurels. You have to be pushing yourself and challenging yourself and making sure every episode is distinct and emotional and visual and compelling and scary and cinematic. So we do that on like 85 percent of them. That’s pretty good. I always thought a B+ was a good grade.
Selman reveals that The Simpsons season 34 is packed full of wacky scenarios for the characters as well as heartfelt narratives to challenge the Simpsons at an emotional level. Although Homer and Grampa’s (Castellaneta) relationship has been touched upon many times before, McCarthy’s upcoming episode, where she plays a child who grabs Grampa’s adoration, appears to an episode that will truly dissect Homer and his father’s tenuous bond. However, playful episodes such as Krusty’s Ellen DeGeneres-styled daytime talk show will undoubtedly have fun with the slew of popular and controversial shows that have filled those time-slots.
However, one of the more interesting episodes of season 34 will be a “crazy conceptual episode” that will go meta as it tackles the common idea that The Simpsons occasionally predict real-life future events. For example, the show accurately foretold that Disney would purchase 20th Century Fox, that Donald Trump would end up as President of the United States, and Bengt R. Holmström would win a Nobel Prize. With an exciting slate of episodes on the table, The Simpsons season 34 is shaping up to be one of its best.
