The Simpsons is playing with death—and that’s a good thing

For over three decades, The Simpsons has been the ageless wonder of television—an animated time capsule that refuses to age, much less die. But with season 36’s finale throwing fans a curveball by (temporarily) killing off Marge, the show has made something startlingly clear: Springfield is finally ready to flirt with mortality. And surprisingly, it’s not a sign of desperation—it’s a sign of life.

Marge’s brief departure in the episode “Estranger Things” wasn’t just a narrative trick—it was a test drive. The show used her fictional death in a future-set story to ask a deeper question: what happens when you remove a core piece of the family? The answer wasn’t just emotional—it was enlightening. The Simpsons may be built on elastic reality, but this moment stretched more than the timeline; it stretched the audience’s expectations.

And those expectations might be exactly what the series needs to shatter next. If The Simpsons dares to explore the death of its most central character—Homer, the donut-devouring, nuclear-plant-snoozing heart of the show—it could unlock a new chapter of storytelling gold. Not finality, but evolution.

Homer Simpson’s absence would reshape Springfield (if only briefly)

Homer Simpson isn't only the core part of the Simpson family; he also acts as the gravitational force of the entire town. If he were to suddenly disappear, the entire Springfield would be impacted. Moe, Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Lenny, and Carl would all have to reshape their lives without their disorderly friend. Just one episode exploring that absence could deliver a deeper emotional layer than the series has explored in years.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a permanent move (unless the show suddenly wanted to become The Flanders Show). But a temporary Homer death would provide space to challenge the show's formula in the best way possible. It would allow the writers to reflect on Homer’s legacy—from his lovable idiocy to his rare, sincere moments of wisdom—and pose a deceptively heavy question: is The Simpsons still The Simpsons without him?

Elastic canon is the secret weapon that no other show than The Simpsons has

Most long-running shows are shackled by continuity. Kill a character, and you’re stuck rewriting the next ten seasons. But the show doesn’t play by those rules—it’s built on an “elastic canon,” where every episode exists in a kind of narrative vacuum. Events can happen and unhappen. Futures can be glimpsed and then discarded. It’s time to embrace that elasticity not just for laughs, but for bold, creative experiments.

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A “what if” Homer death doesn’t mean jumping the shark—it means riding the shark while playing a saxophone solo. It gives the show a rare opportunity: to deconstruct its own mythos without burning it down. And in a pop culture landscape where legacy shows often wither from predictability, this kind of narrative gutsiness is exactly what might keep The Simpsons from becoming its own parody.

After nearly 800 episodes, The Simpsons has earned the right to break its own rules—and then erase the chalkboard gag afterward. Playing with death isn’t just a gimmick for this animated titan—it’s a way to prove it’s still very much alive.

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