Here’s a hot take: The Simpsons hasn’t been good since the ‘90s. I know, I know—scorching! But there is a cohort of four-fingered ultras out there who will tell you that the show has entered a new renaissance over the past couple of years, even as Marge increasingly sounds as though she smokes 60 a day, the gags have gotten staler than an out-of-date donut, and the show’s golden-age peak continues to shrink in the pop-cultural rear view.
Sure, there has been the occasional standout episode—and, of course, The Simpsons Movie, which arrived after the start of the show’s widely perceived downward spiral, yet still managed to conjure some of the magic of its halcyon era. And now, 20 years after Maggie first squeaked “sequel,” The New Simpsons Movie is set to hit screens, its pointedly self-aware title announced at the Disney fan convention D23 earlier this month.
(Like the time when Malibu Stacey got a new hat, it’s The Simpsons Movie… but new!) It is currently dated for September 3 of next year, slightly delayed from its initially announced July release date. Last year, it was announced that the show was renewed through to a 40th season, set to air in 2028, even if it feels like no one actually watches it anymore. (In reality, viewership in the recent seasons has trended around the low millions, which isn’t terrible in the streaming age.) If the film is any good, like its predecessor, it could prompt a genuine resurgence.
Bad? The long-awaited death knell for a show
Bad? The long-awaited death knell for a show that should’ve ended, in many minds, years ago. To recap, The Simpsons Movie saw Springfield trapped under a giant dome by a villainous suit from the Environmental Protection Agency, played by regular guest voice Albert Brooks, after Homer dumped a load of literal pig shit in Lake Springfield. To justify the theatrical release—an early joke in the film rinsed audiences for paying for something they’d usually get on TV for free—it featured souped-up animation, blockbuster-grade stakes, and even a brief appearance from a Simpsons-ified Tom Hanks.
We know next to nothing about the sequel, but odds are they’ll look to go just as big, with a surfeit of celebrity cameos and nostalgic callbacks. News of the second Simpsons Movie first dropped in September 2025, with an image promising that Homer would be “coming back for seconds,” along with the series’ signature pink donut, decorated with sprinkles shaped like the number two.
That would seem to confirm that the Simpson patriarch will take center stage in the film, as he did in the first one—though that’s hardly a surprise, Homer having long since eclipsed Bart as the show’s main character and mascot. A yet-to-be-officially-published first look of the movie was revealed to fans and press at D23: an unfinished sequence of the film wherein Homer attends a baseball game with fellow barflies and power plant co-workers Lenny and Karl, plus Milhouse’s sad-sack dad Kirk.
The scene soon descends into very nü Simpsons-coded,
The scene soon descends into very nü Simpsons-coded, classic character cameo-laden chaos, with half of the town trying to claim the game ball after the batter hits a home run. Early days, but it sounds… quite fun! The full cast is yet to be announced, but it’s expected that the familiar show regulars will reprise their roles, from Dan Castellaneta (Homer) to Julie Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart).
After all, you can’t have The Simpsons without, well, the Simpsons. It’s being directed by Rob Oliver, who has worked on the show in various capacities since the mid ‘90s, and has been a staple episode director since the late 2000s. Let’s just hope the popcorn bucket isn’t shaped like Homer’s mouth. The world is home to far too many sickos. This story originally appeared in British GQ.
Source: www.gq.com
