Could legendary cartoon series The Simpsons be near the end? One of its most famous voice actors believes it’s a possibility.
Yeardley Smith, who voices Lisa Simpson, says the show could be cancelled in the near future.
Yeardley talked to Hollywood Reporter about the Fox and Disney merge, and how The Simpsons could face the axe as a result.
“When you’re dealing with something that is still so culturally relevant, and sort of such a pillar of our culture…
“If you’re going to mess with that, that’s some pretty risky territory. So my feeling is — and I could be completely wrong — is that they would cancel it before they would change it [creatively],” Yeardley told the US news source.
The Simpsons is of course known for addressing timely and controversial issues, which may not be in line with Disney’s traditionally ‘family friendly’ approach.
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Since the merge, a controversial episode of The Simpsons has already been removed from television circulation.
The episode Stark Raving Dad featuring the voice of the late Michael Jackson, was pulled after HBO’s divisive Leaving Neverland documentary aired this March.
But Simpsons fans shouldn’t panic just yet, as despite Yeardley’s predictions, a cancellation of the series is still very much speculation.
And fresh episodes will continue to air for at least a couple more years, as Fox renewed the series for two more series, with new episodes airing up to 2021.
Yeardley also said in the same interview that she believed there was still a viewer demand for new episodes of the iconic cartoon series, despite a library of over 700 episodes already in existence.
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“Even though we have 700 episodes, when we have a marathon and you can devour that in 14 days, dude, you better keep making those episodes.
For us, I think it’s very, very good as long as the writers and executive producers still want to keep making the show. I’m optimistic,” she said.
Disney has yet to address its future plans for The Simpsons.
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