Springfield fans can breathe a sigh of relief: despite a shocking scene in The Simpsons’ 36th-season finale, where Homer knelt at Marge’s grave with a tombstone reading “Beloved wife, mother, pork-chop seasoner,” executive producer Matt Selman insists that Marge Simpson is not, in fact, dead. Selman quickly moved to quell fan uproar, clarifying that The Simpsons operates without a strict “canon,” and that future-set episodes are merely speculative fantasies, often contradictory.
The controversial episode, titled “Estranger Things,” jumped 35 years into the future, depicting a fractured Simpsons family. Lisa is the commissioner of the NBA, while Bart runs an unlicensed retirement home where a seemingly abandoned Homer resides. The narrative twist revealed Marge’s passing, with a scene showing her watching her children reconcile from heaven, where she is now married to her longtime crush, Ringo Starr. She even quipped about being “so glad we’re allowed to marry different people in heaven” before heading to the “Heaven Buffet” with the former Beatle.
Selman, a writer for the show since 1997, pointed to the numerous, often conflicting, flash-forward episodes throughout the series’ long history as evidence that such events are not permanent plot points. He also suggested that much of the fan “furore” was stoked by “misleading headlines” from media outlets seeking traffic, stating, “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.”
Despite the perceived sensationalism, Selman conceded that the widespread attention underscores The Simpsons’ enduring cultural relevance. “I guess this speaks to the fact that people care about Marge,” he said, adding, “At the end of the day, it’s probably good for business even when these ridiculous, misleading stories go viral!” The Simpsons has been renewed for four more seasons, guaranteeing it will exceed 800 episodes, ensuring Marge, and the rest of the beloved family, will be gracing screens for years to come.