The Simpsons has a history of killing off beloved characters. Some only had select appearances, like “Bleeding Gums” Murphy. Others were staples, as with Edna Krabappel. There were even surprise fan favorites like Moe’s barfly Larry, whose death last season sparked outrage from die-hard Simpsons aficionados. And now Marge Simpson — only, she’s not actually dead, despite the suggestion that people read into in the season 36 finale which aired last month.
But let’s recap first. In “Estranger Things” — which wrapped up an already unorthodox season that pretended to lead off with a series finale — we get one of the show’s many jumps into the future. It’s there that we learn that Marge Simpson is in heaven (with Ringo Starr, no less), watching down on Bart and Lisa as they mend their relationship. Fans were so shocked and angered by the sheer thought of the death of Simpsons matriarch Marge that those behind the scenes are now insisting that what they saw is not necessarily canon, if the show has one at all. As The Simpsons EP Matt Selman put it, “Obviously since the ‘The Simpsons’ future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they’re all different every time. Marge will probably never be dead ever again. The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago.”
So why is there so much about the “death” of Marge Simpson so many weeks after the episode aired? Four fingers, it seems, can be pointed at the media, who should be not proud in how they handled the story through clickbait tactics. “Here’s my take: Websites need traffic, and headlines equal traffic. And then you can explain that the headline was misleading at the very end of the article. Every single media outlet that ran this story knew that in no way was Marge dead. They all knew it, but they ran the headline anyway.”
And so the twisted world of Marge Simpson will continue, as we all knew would be the case anyway. As it stands, The Simpsons is renewed up to season 40, which should take it to 2029 as it tries to near the 1,000 mark. (“Estranger Things” was episode 790, so there’s still a ways to go for the residents of Springfield to see 1,000.)
What did you think of how The Simpsons handled Marge’s non-canonical death? Do you see any major characters being killed off in the near future?
