The Simpsons will never have an official ending.
The long-running animated sitcom aired its milestone 800th episode on Sunday (15.02.26) but showrunner Matt Selman insisted they aren't preparing for the show to finish any time soon - but if it did, it would just close out with a "regular episode".
He told The Wrap: “If the show ever did end, there’s no finale.
“It would just be a regular episode that has the family in it. Probably a little Easter egg here and there, but no ‘I'm going to miss this place.’"
However, Matt admitted the team explored the idea of a dramatic farewell with a "parody" finale during the September 2024 season 36 premiere.
He said: “We did an episode about a year-and-a-half ago that was like a parody of the series finale. We jammed every possible series finale concept into one show, so that was my way of saying we’re never going to do a series finale.”
Despite being on air since 1989, very little has changed in Springfield over the years, and Matt insisted it is important to keep the show that way.
He said: “The show isn’t supposed to change. The characters reset every week. It’s like Groundhog Day but they don’t know it—and they don’t die that much.”
The 800th episode, Irrational Treasure, features cameos from a string of stars including Kevin Bacon, Quinta Brunson, and Noah Wyle, but Matt admitted it wasn't written with the milestone in mind.
He told Entertainment Weekly: "When we wrote it, we originally didn't know it was going to be the 800th episode to air on Fox.
"We started writing it late last winter or early spring because we have to work so far ahead for animation, and we knew we wanted to do a Philadelphia episode."
"By the time we started building it and adding all the satire and the parody and the emotion and and the travel stuff, it did feel like kind of an epic movie-type episode with a big sprawling plot.
"I love telling a story using the specifics of both famous and non-famous parts of a place like Philadelphia to tell both a crazy adventure story that is a nonsense plot about this conspiracy, but also a deep emotional story about Marge's connection to the dog and what it means to give your love to a pet."
