The producers of The Simpsons seem to be content that they’re now members of the Disney family, revealing there has been talk of a new spin-off series or film.
Back in 1997, The Simpsons aired their episode titled ‘The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase’. Somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek response to the idea of television shows and their related spin-offs, the episode revolves around fictional pilot episodes revolving around characters from the series.
As it turns out, this wasn’t exactly a far-fetched concept, with an idea revolving around Krusty The Clown as an LA talk show host being shot down in the mid-’90s, and other proposed shows also failing to take off.
However, as Variety reports, producers of The Simpsons recently took part in a discussion at Disney’s D23 Expo convention, where they discussed the idea of them having joined the entertainment conglomerate in light of jokes made about them in the past.
“Isn’t this the craziest thing you could imagine, that we would start out working for an evil corporation and then working for a nice one?” joked executive producer Matt Selman.
Check out a quick look at The Simpsons‘ acquisition by Disney:
Elsewhere though, fellow executive producer Al Jean noted that the team “have talked about” the idea of doing a second film, following-up 2007’s The Simpsons Movie.
“I think Disney would be supportive of anything we wanted to do,” added Matt Selman. “Maybe a crazy limited series with a side character or a movie that we surprised you with, they’ve been really creatively supportive and this is going to afford so many new ways to do the show than just the traditional format.”
While it remains to be seen whether a spin-off series will indeed eventuate, it follows on from comments made by voice actor Harry Shearer earlier this year, who noted he’d like to see one of his characters receive some more attention.
“I guess the one I think would benefit from a spinoff at this point would be Reverend Lovejoy,” Shearer explained during a panel for the 30th anniversary of the show. “There’s never been, as far as I know, an American TV show about a clergyman.”
While many fans of The Simpsons seem to be waiting for the show to finally announce its long-overdue end by this point, it seems as though those behind the scenes are keeping their eyes peeled for future opportunities.
Could this proposed film sequel or spin-off recapture the essence of what made the series great to begin with? Probably not, but it’ll be fun finding out.
Check out part of ‘The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFBnov9dlSY
