Summary

• The Simpsons season 35, set to premiere on October 1, 2023, has generated excitement with its inventive and experimental episodes in the previous season.
• The voice actors are expected to continue playing their beloved characters, and the show has overcome obstacles to arrive as planned.
• Fox has renewed The Simpsons for seasons 35 and 36, with a combined total of 51 episodes, solidifying its status as one of the network's highest-rated shows.

Showing no signs of ending its historic run, The Simpsons season 35 is on its way. Ever since it graduated from The Tracey Ullman Show and scored its own half-hour slot in 1989, The Simpsons has been one of the most popular and acclaimed shows on TV. Its combination of universally relatable family situations and absurdist humor quickly made it a global cultural sensation, and it shows no signs of slowing down or releasing its hold on the cultural zeitgeist. 34 seasons and 750 episodes in, The Simpsons is still going strong as one of Fox’s highest-rated shows.

After the inventive and experimental episodes of The Simpsons season 34 led to an uptick in the show’s critical reception, there was an added excitement about The Simpsons season 35 that the show has not gotten in many years. The voice actors — led by Dan Castellaneta as Homer, Julie Kavner as Marge, Nancy Cartwright as Bart, and Yeardley Smith as Lisa – are all expected to continue playing their characters for the foreseeable future of the series. There have certainly been some obstacles amid the Hollywood strikes, but The Simpsons season 35 is arriving in October 2023 as planned.

The Simpsons Season 35 Latest News

The most recent news for the upcoming season of The Simpsons came in September 2023, less than a month before the October 1 release date. However, it was a substantial update for The Simpsons season 35, as a trailer was finally released. The teaser for The Simpsons season 35 was brief, but made full use of its 1:10 minute runtime with dozens of snippets from multiple episodes, including some that are likely from the next Treehouse of Horror.

Several shots from known upcoming episodes could be spotted in the teaser. For instance, an episode in The Simpsons season 35 will see Marge panicking about Bart growing up and leaving his childhood. A shot in the new teaser of a baby Bart floating away from Marge in a bubble is likely from this same episode. The teaser also revealed several shots from the first episode of The Simpsons season 35, "Homer's Crossing", which will see Homer becoming a school crossing guard.

The Simpsons Season 35 Renewal Is Confirmed

Fox has officially renewed The Simpsons for seasons 35 and 36. Multi-season renewals are reserved for shows that networks have the most faith in, and The Simpsons’ three decades of cultural relevance have given Fox that faith. Matt Selman, long-time Simpsons writer and current co-showrunner, tweeted that seasons 35 and 36 will have a combined total of 51 episodes. Seven of these episodes are holdovers from season 34, while the other 44 episodes will be made in the upcoming production cycles. The episodes from seasons 35 and 36 will bring the total number of Simpsons episodes to 801.

The Simpsons Season 35: Release Date

The Simpsons season 35 will premiere on October 1, 2023. The announcement came after uncertainty for the new season amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA Hollywood union strikes. The release date for The Simpsons season 35 was revealed in July 2023, less than six months before the premiere date.

The Simpsons Season 35 Cast

The Simpsons season 35 cast will see the return of all the major voice actors who've made the show such a success over the decades. This includes Dan Castellaneta as Homer, Grampa, Krusty the Clown. Julie Kavner returns as Marge, Patty, and Selma. Nancy Cartwright will of course be back as Bart, Maggie, and Ralph Wiggum. Yeardley Smith will once again voice Lisa.

Hank Azaria returns as Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, and Cletus Spuckler. Finally, the inimitable Harry Shearer reprises his roles as Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Principal Skinner, and many more. Like all prior seasons, the main cast will voice a variety of characters outside their central roles in The Simpsons season 35 too. However, since season 32, Carl and Lou have been voiced by Alex Désert due to the controversy surrounding white voice actors playing P.O.C. roles in animated shows.

The Simpsons Season 35 Story Details

Since it began airing in 1989, The Simpsons has followed the traditional sitcom storytelling model of giving each episode its own standalone story. There have only been four two-part episodes in the show’s entire run and there is rarely any serialization or continuity in the show — except for the occasional character death, such as Maude Flanders. It's been confirmed that, like every other season since the second one, The Simpsons season 35 will have another Treehouse of Horror Halloween special.

Several episode synopses have been revealed ahead of The Simpsons season 35. Episode 1 will be a Homer-centric story wherein he changes careers yet again, this time to a school crossing guard. However, thanks to overfunding, he manages to turn the safety squad into a borderline-lethal force to be reckoned with. Marge will be plagued with nightmares about Bart growing up in another episode, while an episode set in the future featuring an actually grown-up Lisa will tell the tale of how Homer caused a blackout across Springfield one Thanksgiving.

The Simpsons Season 35 Trailer

The trailer for The Simpsons season 35 arrived on September 13, 2023, a few weeks before the October 1 release date. While the teaser is only just over a minute long, it manages to jam dozens of quick peaks at the next season of The Simpsons. The shots are all given without context and vary wildly, so none give away any specific storylines for the upcoming episodes. However, there does appear to be several shots of Sideshow Bob, which — if it's a full appearance — would be his first time back in the show since 2019's season 31.

Baby Bart floating away in a bubble is another shot in The Simpsons season 35 trailer, which is likely from an episode revealed by Fox to be about Marge struggling to cope with the fact Bart, her "special little guy", won't be a child forever. The trailer rounds out with a final confirmation of The Simpsons season 35 premiere date on Fox, and every shot, from Groundskeeper Willie chasing a greased-up Martin to Marge and Homer being engulfed by a tidal wave of pink foam, proves that Homer's opening line of "let's get nuts" is a promise the show intends to keep.