The Simpsons has been on for 33 seasons. Think about that for a second. The first episode, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” premiered less than a month after Back to the Future Part II hit theaters. The longest-running scripted series in American TV history isn’t going away anytime soon, either: the cast has already started recording season 34, and Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa, thinks it will continue past that.
“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,” Smith told The Movie Dweeb YouTube channel (“dweeb” was an insult when The Simpsons premiered in 1989; now it’s a badge of honor). “Also, if it was the last season, I think they would want to capitalize on that and make bazillions on advertising.” She isn’t worried about losing the job she’s had for over three decades “considering how much content streaming services need… 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.”
Smith also discussed the long-rumored sequel to 2007’s The Simpsons Movie, which she thinks will happen… eventually. And when it does (hopefully not at the same time as the writers and animators are also working on the show, for their sanity), she has an idea in mind. “I do really believe that there will be a number two, and my pitch is that it should be a Christmas movie, so that it has annual relevance for the rest of time,” she said.
Smith’s concept is similar to showrunner Al Jean’s idea for the series finale. “I mentioned that there would be an ending where the last episode, they’d be going back to the Christmas pageant from the first episode, so that the whole series was a continuous loop,” he said. “That’s how I would end it, if I had to.”
They should combine the two ideas, so look forward to that in 2047.