In completely unsurprising news, The Simpsons predicted the current Russia invasion of Ukraine many, many years ago.

The beloved animation series has made a habit of predicting major events over the decades, so much so that we compiled a list of their eeriest predictions. They predicted the Capitol Hill riots; they predicted Donald Trump’s Presidency; they had an episode showing Disney owning Fox way before it happened.

To that list of crazy predictions, we can now add the Russia and Ukraine conflict. Eagle-eyed Twitter users noted that a 1998 episode, ‘Simpson Tide’, features a storyline closely mirroring the current situation.

After Homer accidentally fires a submarine captain into Russian waters during a military exercise, the Soviet Union is resuscitated and deploys troops and tanks to the streets. The Berlin Wall even pops back up suddenly.

It didn’t go unnoticed by The Simpsons show runner Al Jean. “Very sad to say this was not hard to predict,” he tweeted. He discussed it further in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“I hate to say it, but I was born in 1961, so 30 years of my life were lived with the specter of the Soviet Union,” he said. “So, to me, this is sadly more the norm than it is a prediction. We just figured things were going to go bad.”

He added: “Historical aggression never really goes away, and you have to be super vigilant. In 1998, when this clip aired, it was maybe the zenith of U.S.-Russia relations.

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But, ever since (Russian President Vladimir) Putin got in, almost everybody has made it clear that he’s a bad guy and bad things are going to happen.”

The Simpsons is still going strong in its 33rd season. If the series finally finishes, does that mean the world will stop having so many strange future events?

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