Santa's Little Helper, Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, Maggie Simpson, Marge Simpson, Homer Simpson in The Simpsons Image via FOX By Michael Hein Published Aug 25, 2026, 11:24 PM EDT Michael Hein has been covering entertainment, fandom news, and trending topics since 2016 on outlets including Rogues Portal , PopCulture.com, and ComicBook.com. He has provided live coverage of red carpet premieres, conventions, and up-fronts, and has interviewed major stars including Charles Dance, Patrick Stewart, and Chloe Sevigny. An avid fiction reader and writer, Michael has been diving deep into all the biggest book-to-screen adaptations of the last decade, from Game of Thrones to Foundation. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us Add on Google Preferred Source Google News Summary Generate a summary of this story Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Listen Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap After nearly four decades on the air, The Simpsons has seen a lot of cancellation rumors come and go — some more reliable than others. It's often possible to judge how likely these rumors are based on fans' responses, and right now they're taking it surprisingly seriously. The voice behind Bart Simpson, Nancy Cartwright, recently appeared on Michael Rosenbaum 's podcast Inside of You with a blunt prediction about when The Simpsons would end — 2029. The show has been renewed through Season 40 , and Cartwright seems to think it could end at that point. Adding to the intrigue, showrunner Matt Selman has already outlined a potential ending for the series that would feel perfect.
Asked how long The Simpsons would go on, Cartwright answered: "40 seasons," later qualifying with, "it's my opinion." This is far from an official announcement from Fox or The Simpsons producers, but it has stirred up a conversation about how this finale can possibly live up to all its buildup. The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted primetime show in TV history, and as any fan will attest, it has missed plenty of good opportunities to end. However, if the big send-off is truly coming, at least Selman has a solid plan for it.
Image via Disney+ Cartwright's commentary comes just a few months after Selman was asked about a Simpsons finale back in February, in an interview with The Wrap . At the time, the show was celebrating its 800th episode, and Selman assured fans that he had no plans to end it. However, he said that if he was still showrunner when the time finally came, he wouldn't do anything particularly special.
"If the show ever did end, there’s no finale, it would just be a regular episode that has the family in it," he said. "Probably a little Easter egg here and there, but no ‘I’m going to miss this place.’" Selman noted that he and the other writers and producers had tackled this question in a 2024 episode titled "Bart's Birthday," which was a send-up of series finale tropes. He said the idea was to do a parody of the kind of finale this show would never have.
"The show isn’t supposed to change. The characters reset every week. It’s like Groundhog Day but they don’t know it — and they don’t die that much," he said. Selman clearly has a handle on the show's greatest strengths, and he's not interested in changing them to tug on fans' heartstrings. A proper finale for The Simpsons would leave them right where we found them back in 1989, with every indi…