Season 36 of “The Simpsons” premiered on Sunday, leaving fans confused after the episode was described as the show’s “series finale.”
The show titled its episode “Bart’s Birthday” with an animated version of Conan O’Brian, a former writer for the show, hosting a ceremony on the show for the “Fox special presentation,” with animated celebrities in attendance.
“It’s such an honor to be with you all for the series finale of ‘The Simpsons,’” O’Brian announced to the audience. “I knew I was the right man for the job because I’ve hosted the last episode of three of my own shows, and counting.”
His character continued, “So, why end the simpsons now? Not many people know this, but Fox has been trying to end it for years.” O’Brian showcased unaired clips of series finales from previous seasons such as 1990’s “Bart the Daredevil,” 1995’s “King Sized Homer,” and 2000’s “Little Big Mom.”
O’Brian presented the season opener to the crowd, explaining that the Simpsons writers created the episode using an AI named “Hack-GPT” to produce the “perfect finale.” The episode revealed several scenes that try to wrap up the show’s storylines, such as Principal Skinner retiring, Mr. Burns dying, Moe shutting down, and Milhouse moving to Atlanta.
At the end of the episode, Bart is strangled by Homer at his 11th birthday party, despite him being 10 years old since the beginning of the series in 1989. Bart wakes up from the AI “series finale” with everything back to normal in “Springfield” again.
The show’s ending credits recreated animated versions of the final scenes of shows such as “The Sopranos,” “Game of Thrones,” “Succession,” and “Breaking Bad.”
Fans of the show initially appeared to be confused about the season premiere’s ending before realizing the show was not ending.
“Is this really the end of the simpsons? I really hope there will be a season 37,” one fan wrote on X.
“This is one of my favourite episodes. Loved the celebrity appearances, and tributes to the old episodes. What an amazing episode, can’t wait for S36 E2,” another person commented.
“The Simpsons” official X account reassured fans that the show will continue, “Don’t worry, the next new episode arrives Sunday!” they wrote on X.
After three decades and over 700 episodes, “The Simpsons” holds the title of America’s longest-running animated sitcom series. The show was created by Matt Groening, and the current voice actors include Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson), Julie Kavner (Marge Simpson), Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson), Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson), and Hank Azaria voicing several characters.