If you aren’t yet caught up with the latest episodes of The Simpsons, be warned: there are spoilers ahead.
It’s been more than a month since the death of a beloved cartoon character was foretold by the series. But fans still say they’re in shock that Marge Simpson, the beloved, blue-haired matriarch, will die before her husband.
The episode begins by showing that Lisa and Bart Simpson (voiced by Yeardley Smith and Nancy Cartwright) have drifted apart. In the season finale episode titled “Estranger Things,” the oldest children of Homer and Marge (Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner) suggests the siblings no longer spend time together at this point in the future.”
This sets in motion the events that lead to the revelation in a flash-forward sequence that Marge eventually dies before Homer. Few details are revealed about what happened, or when the show might catch up to this point.
The episode reveals a future in which a now-adult Lisa is the commissioner of the WNBA. Bart, however, remains in Springfield and a widowed Homer lives in a retirement home.
This lookahead shows the late Marge spending time with Beatles musician Ringo Starr (who is still alive in real life) in heaven.
“I’m just so glad we’re allowed to marry different people in heaven,” Marge says as the episode ends.
Even if this reveal is accurate to the show’s eventual storyline and not a dream sequence or alternate future, there is nothing to suggest that Marge won’t be featured in the next season.
Still, the death was emotional for fans whose mourning has continued a month after the episode aired.
“OMG THEY KILLED MARGE it’s a sad day for us Simpsons lovers,” one person posted on social media.
This is not the first death in the show since it first aired in 1989, but it is the first time the showrunners have shown the death of one of the main family members.
The Simpsons have killed off many characters through the years, including Frank Grimes, Maude Flanders, Edna Krabappel and Larry Dalrymple (TVGuide.com has kept a track of them all).
But you can breathe easy: Marge is not going anywhere just yet.
It was announced in April that the show has been renewed for four more seasons.
Kavner will likely return, since Marge’s death happens later in the show’s timeline.
Matt Groening, the creator of the series, told Variety that The Simpsons fandom is “as intense as ever,” despite being the longest-running animation series in North America.
The death of the Marge character represents a break from how things played out in the Groening family. Matt Groening named Homer and Marge for his parents, and his mother outlived his father.
