The Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman has shared new details about the upcoming season, promising viewers that they will finally find out how the show has managed to predict the future.
In an interview with Deadline, Selman expressed his excitement for Season 34 and offered a tease of what is coming next. He name-dropped a few of this season’s guest stars, namely Simu Liu and Melissa McCarthy, before offering a few tidbits about the forthcoming episodes, including one “crazy conceptual episode that explains how The Simpsons know the future.”
“It’s a conceptual episode with lots of crazy stuff in it,” he added. “But it does [offer] an explanation of how The Simpsons can predict the future.”
After three decades on air, The Simpsons has developed somewhat of a reputation for its ability to predict the future, causing viewers to occasionally shout “The Simpsons did it!” to actual current events. The latest in a long line of creepy coincidences involves a classic Season 4 episode that somehow managed to predict the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of so-called “murder hornets” in one fell swoop.
Selman and fellow producer Al Jean previously spoke about how The Simpsons has seemingly managed to foresee future events, telling IGN that it’s mostly down to the length of time the show has been on air. “If you just do more episodes for more decades than all the other shows, you’re gonna get more predictions right,” Selman said. “And we really have all the other shows beat when it comes to decades.”
While there may not be a complex algorithm behind its future-predicting power, the upcoming season is now expected to offer the best explantion yet, so you won’t want to miss it when it premieres next month. Season 34 of the The Simpsons will officially debut on September 25, with an episode that sees Homer get into “a conspiracy cabal while hunting down a missing turtle,” according to Selman.
Fox renewed The Simpsons for two more seasons last year, ensuring that the series will remain on the air until at least 2023, bringing the total episode count to 757. “It’s a sincere pleasure to announce the Season 33 and 34 pick-ups for The Simpsons. We keep hoping that, eventually, they’ll get it right,” Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier joked at the time.
There are 32 seasons of The Simpsons available on Disney+, so you might want to check out IGN’s rundown of the 30 best episodes of all time to relive some classic moments before the new season airs.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
Cover image credit: Fox.