Summary

Marge Simpson isn't really dead; she will return in the next season of The Simpsons.
The Internet overreacted to the episode "Estranger Things."
Fox renewed The Simpsons for four more seasons back in April.

D'oh! It seems as if numerous fans of The Simpsons were prematurely mourning the end of a franchise mainstay despite the character not even really being dead. The Simpsons is an animated series, after all... Main characters aren't usually killed off on these kinds of shows.

Despite airing on May 18th, The Simpsons Season 36 finale "Estranger Things" has caused a whole lot of hand-wringing over the past week or so. The episode depicts Bart and Lisa drifting apart later in life after Marge dies, before eventually reconciling due to a video of Marge telling the siblings to look after each other. You know, a simple, typical Simpsons episode that jumps forward in time to show what happens to the character in the future. We've seen Lisa become President of the United States after running against Eva Longoria's Isabel Gutiérrez in "The Kid Is All Right." We've seen Maggie as a 22-year-old rock star in "Holidays of Future Passed." We've seen Homer himself killed by the police after leaving a food bank in "Flanders' Ladder." Flash-forwards happen all the time in The Simpsons, so you'd figure fans would be familiar with the process by now, right?

The Simpsons Killing Marge Proves The Show Is Still Willing To Make Bold Calls, And That Will Keep It Alive

The Simpsons decided to kill Marge, which proves that the show is still willing to make bold calls at this stage.

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By Matthew Wilkinson

The online outrage has gotten so bad, The Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman basically had to speak to Variety to set the record straight. "Obviously, since The Simpsons future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they’re all different every time," Selman said. "Marge will probably never be dead ever again. The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago." Well, that certainly sorts that out, but Selman wasn't quite finished: "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."

No, Marge Simpson Isn't Really Dead, And She'll Be Back In The Next Season Of The Simpsons

Shockingly, The Internet Made A Mountain Out Of A Molehill

Homer and Marge ride a motorcycle in The Simpsons Movie

Fox renewed The Simpsons for four more seasons back in April, which will take the series to a landmark 40th season. It seems highly unlikely that they would've done so if the creative team had actually planned on eliminating Marge Simpson from the show. What would The Simpsons even be without one of its five main players?

“I guess this speaks to the fact that people care about Marge. At the end of the day, it’s probably good for business even when these ridiculous, misleading stories go viral." - Matt Selman

Can you even imagine Homer and the kids existing without Marge? How would anything get done? Would Lisa essentially have to take over the household at the ripe old age of eight? How much chaos could Bart cause in such a situation? Who would provide sweet motherly love to little Maggie? We shudder at the thought. Heck, we shudder at the show ending, let alone killing off a main character.

Alas, all of this pontification is for naught, as Marge Simpson isn't dead, and The Simpsons will continue carrying on as it has for nearly four decades now.

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TV-PG

Family

Animation

Comedy

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Release Date: December 17, 1989
Network: FOX
Showrunner: Al Jean
Directors: Steven Dean Moore, Mark Kirkland, Rob Oliver, Michael Polcino, Mike B. Anderson, Chris Clements, Wes Archer, Timothy Bailey, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Matthew Faughnan, Chuck Sheetz, Rich Moore, Jeffrey Lynch, Pete Michels, Susie Dietter, Raymond S. Persi, Carlos Baeza, Dominic Polcino, Lauren MacMullan, Michael Marcantel, Neil Affleck, Swinton O. Scott III, Jennifer Moeller
Writers: J. Stewart Burns, Michael Price, Brian Kelley, Bill Odenkirk, Dan Vebber, Kevin Curran, Stephanie Gillis, Dan Castellaneta, Deb Lacusta, Billy Kimball, Jessica Conrad, Cesar Mazariegos, Daniel Chun, Jennifer Crittenden, Conan O'Brien, Valentina Garza, Elisabeth Kiernan Averick, Christine Nangle, Broti Gupta, Loni Steele Sosthand, Megan Amram, Bob Kushell, David Isaacs, David Mandel