By TeeJay Small
| Printed
In 2026, The Simpsons feels as ubiquitous because the air that we breathe, the water we drink, and the crushing, existentialist dread that engulfs our each waking second. For anybody beneath the age of 37, The Simpsons has existed earlier than us, and it’ll in all probability proceed current lengthy after we’re gone. And whereas I’m as appreciative of the 800+ episode saga as anybody, I feel it’s value admitting that the present is vastly overdue for a significant change. Very similar to the infrastructure that retains our cities purposeful, The Simpsons ought to bear common upkeep to make sure that we’re not ingesting lead, or having coronary heart assaults on the notion of getting old previous Grampa.
Right here’s my pitch: please, for the love of god, let these characters age. Bart Simpson has been 10-years-old since 1987. He got here of age through the period of Pogs, and now he’s following TikTok tendencies and letting CheatGPT do his homework for him. Homer’s father was speculated to be a World Battle 2 veteran, however since he can’t age, the sequence has subtly adjusted his backstory to position him in Korea, Vietnam, and now the Gulf Battle. Jokes about his geriatric ramblings have gone from critiques of the early twentieth century, to issues I can personally keep in mind taking place in my lifetime. I’m 29.
We Get Older, They Keep The Identical Age
The idea of getting old will not be utterly overseas to the Simpsons household. Actually, they’ve aged up in quite a few episodes over time as one-off flash-forward adventures. Like all issues within the Simpsons universe, the canon of those episodes are extremely contested. Typically Bart grows as much as be an unemployable stuck-at-home loser, whereas different occasions he evolves to change into an upbeat father of two who owns a BMX workshop. Likewise, Lisa might both marry Milhouse, colonize Mars, or change into the primary feminine president of the USA, and inherit a significant finances crunch from President Trump.
Lately, nonetheless, The Simpsons experimented with age in a approach that felt very pure, and served as a breath of recent air for viewers who’ve grown bored with the established order. Season 37 Episode 11 “Parahormonal Exercise” aired on December 14, 2025, and adopted the Simpsons household as they aged roughly 5 years into the longer term. It’s not an enormous leap from the characters we’ve adopted for the reason that invention of the Nintendo Recreation Boy, nevertheless it allowed room for tons of recent gags, and lots of private development.
Particularly, Marge enters the early levels of perimenopause, whereas Homer struggles with coronary heart well being, medicine scheduling, and ED. In the meantime, Bart and Lisa have change into hormonal maniacs, grappling with the world of consuming issues, magnificence requirements, and social anxiousness. Regardless that the episode ought to really feel like a significant upheaval of the same old format, it goes down as clean as a nerd taking a punch from Nelson Muntz. Certain, listening to Marge Simpson use the phrases “incel” and “manosphere” made my backbone compress, however no less than I wasn’t so jarred by her noticeably aged voice.
Lengthy Overdue For An Replace
Growing old the characters simply is smart from a voice appearing perspective as properly. The core solid of The Simpsons have been performing for almost 4 a long time, and their vocal cords have undergone lots of modifications in that point. Producers of the present clearly take no situation with swapping out voice actors primarily based on racial castingso why can’t we age up the characters so their current voices line up with their seems to be?
I’m not saying Marge and Homer need to change into aged and senile, or that the household needs to be getting old each week and even yearly. However, leaping 5 years forward after 40 years on the air appears like a reasonably honest adjustment, and it might assist to maintain issues recent in the long term. Even the South Park children graduated from third grade to fourth grade over the course of their decades-long run.
I feel the very best plan of action can be to implement a time-skip after the discharge of the upcoming filmwhich is slated to hit theaters in July of 2027. The film is certain to carry lots of new and returning eyes onto The Simpsonsand appeal to consideration from followers who could have deserted the sequence within the final decade or so. Opening the next season with a leap ahead can be a significant refresh, and assist to obviously set up the time earlier than the movie and the time after. The Simpsons used their earlier movie to computer virus HD animation and widescreen into the sequence, so there’s already a precedent for this kind of factor.