Why Some Simpsons Fans Are Worried By The Show's Longevity

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https://www.looper.com/953521/why-so...ows-longevity/

Fans are worried about how the show might handle the death of a series regular

So far, "The Simpsons" has opted for a very deliberate approach to losing cast members. Vulture reports that when Phil Hartman passed away, his ongoing characters Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz, along with other minor characters he voiced, vanished from the show. Similarly, when Marcia Wallace died in 2013, "The Simpsons" writers penned a tribute episode, repurposing old dialogue as a way to say goodbye to the character (via Variety). In fact, real-life deaths have resulted in more than a few "Simpsons" characters mysteriously disappearing.

However, "The Simpsons" has never had to grapple with the sudden exit of a series regular. During a discussion on the r/TheSimpsons subreddit, a number of the show's fans debated how such a loss would impact the series. Unsurprisingly, many of these questions centered on the voice actors behind the central members of the titular family. In one post, u/Financial-Donut-6560 asked, "What do you think they would do if someone like Dan Castellaneta or one of the other actors suddenly died?" Of course, the unknown answer to that question is almost too difficult to comprehend or think about.

Still, there were a number of predictions offered. For example, u/rosathoseareourdads insisted that would certainly mean the end of the series. Conversely, a number of other commenters insisted that producers would simply recast the roles. Perhaps one of the most interesting suggestions came courtesy of u/TFlarz, who wrote, "I'm almost literally 50/50 between 'they'll just make new scripts using existing voice clips' vs 'ending the show outright and showing repeats.'"

While it remains to be seen how the series might actually handle such a situation, we simply hope that we're a long way off from writers having to face such a difficult question.