Were you aware that The Simpsons is still going? Well it is! It’s on its 34th season over on Disney+ and while the characters haven’t aged a day, so much has changed.
The characters use iPhones now (in one very meta scene, Homer sends the iconic Homer-Disappearing-Into-Bushes GIF from an iPhone), there’s no more strangling (which is probably for the best), and now one beloved character might be… dead?
It’s been reported by multiple news outlets that popular long-running character Sideshow Bob (voiced by Frasier leading man Kelsey Grammer) was killed off in the latest episode.
In the episode “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV”, in a short titled “Ei8ht” — a nod to the 1995 thriller Se7en — Lisa violently murders Sideshow Bob in a jail cell, seemingly killing the character off for good.
As a huge fan of The Simpsons myself, I’m unsure of whether or not this is true and I’ll tell ya why.
A) It’s a “Treehouse of Horror” special (the 34th of all time, in fact) and as fans of the show will know, these are rife with ridiculous storylines that have no bearing on the other episodes. In past “Treehouse of Horror” eps, the characters have killed each other in all sorts of gruesome and imaginative ways, then there they are in the next ep all fine and dandy like nothing happened.
B) The short itself takes place in an ALTERNATE REALITY where Sideshow Bob finally accomplishes his long-standing goal of killing Bart. So by that logic… Bart would be dead too?
C) There’s been no confirmation from the team at The Simpsons and they’re usually a pretty vocal bunch.
With that said, Kelsey Grammer has recently revived Frasier so it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s decided to step away from The Simpsons to focus on the revival.
So is Sideshow Bob actually gone for good? It’s too soon to tell, these are merely some musings from a die-hard The Simpsons fan who’s noticed the fandom lose its mind over reports of a character death.
Hopefully the truth will be revealed soon!
The Simpsons is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+.
