Why The Simpsons Will Never Get a Series Finale, According to the Showrunner
No curtain call for The Simpsons: Matt Selman says the long-running series will skip a traditional finale and simply stop.
The Simpsons just crossed 800 episodes, which is a sentence that still feels like a prank. Milestones like that usually kick up talk about an ending. So, I asked the obvious: if and when this thing wraps up, are we getting a big, teary series finale? Short answer from showrunner Matt Selman: no.
No grand farewell tour
Selman says they already did their version of a finale gag not too long ago: an episode that crammed in every classic series-finale move and spoofed the entire idea of wrapping up. Consider that the show planting a flag.
"We jammed every possible series finale concept into one show."
His philosophy tracks with how the series has worked since 1989: reset the toys every week, let Springfield run forever, no long goodbyes.
"If the show ever did end, there is 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 am going to miss this place.'"
Honestly, that fits. The Simpsons reinvented TV by refusing to reinvent itself week to week. A normal last episode would be the most on-brand move possible.
Still going strong (and aiming higher)
When the show spun out from shorts into a full series in December 1989, it felt like a small revolution. Four decades later, after entire waves of imitators have come and gone, it is still a global habit. Recent seasons have found a second wind, enough that Disney+ gave the family their own dedicated channel hub. And yes, a new Simpsons movie is on the calendar for 2027. Inside the building, the soft target is clear: push toward that four-digit bragging right.
Episode 800: Irrational Treasure
The 800th installment arrives Sunday, Feb. 15, at 8pm ET/PT, and it is going full caper comedy. Marge tries to get Santa's Little Helper into shape, which snowballs into canine agility events, a trip to the National Dog Show in Philadelphia, and somehow a historical conspiracy that would make Ben Gates nod in approval.
- Title: 'Irrational Treasure'
- Airtime: Sunday, Feb. 15, 8pm ET/PT
- Guest stars: Kevin Bacon; Quinta Brunson; Questlove; Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, and Taylor Dearden (voicing a doctor, nurse, and intern); and Boyz II Men, who recorded a fresh take on the theme and end credits
- Plot tease: Marge's fitness plan for the family dog spirals into a National Treasure-style mystery during the National Dog Show in Philly
Eight hundred episodes in, The Simpsons is not promising a curtain call. It is promising another episode. Frankly, that might be the only way it ever ends.