The Simpsons began as an animated show in 1989 and has been running on Fox ever since. Because Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart, and Maggie haven’t aged throughout the series, the show has occasionally had to revise past storylines to reflect the passage of time. Recently, the showrunner, Matt Selman, talked about the characters’ ages and pointed out that Homer and Marge would actually be considered millennials today.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Selman was very direct about altering the characters’ history. He stated, “My creative process is: I don’t give an eff. We have two choices: either we never do flashback episodes and avoid mentioning the past – which would severely limit our creative freedom, or we embrace a playful and lighthearted approach, staying true to the show’s core identity, and adapt to the era in which the show is currently airing. A show limited to the present with a fuzzy 1970s high-school backstory for Homer and Marge-which feels increasingly unrealistic-would ultimately be much worse for creating compelling stories.”
The Simpsons‘ Great Age Debate
Selman continued to elaborate, explaining the importance of delving into characters’ pasts. He noted it would have been an interesting creative choice to keep The Simpsons fixed in a single era, stating, “A key part of storytelling is showing how people remember things from when they were young. What happens in your childhood directly shapes who you become as an adult. Storytellers can’t ignore those formative years, and we aren’t ignoring them. It would’ve been a fascinating experiment to set the show entirely in the ’70s – imagine them saying, ‘Well, Lisa, when I was a kid in the ’70s…’ – even though, in the story, they now live in what feels like a post-apocalyptic future.”
The showrunner has previously discussed how they handle continuity, and he reiterated his stance in a recent interview: “I want to clarify that we’re not dismissing the other flashbacks fans enjoy,” he explains. “We aren’t saying they didn’t happen! It’s all just a fun, lighthearted show! So I embrace it all. Everything both happened and didn’t happen with equal authenticity. If you, as a fan, find joy in analyzing the timeline of a 40-year-old show where the characters don’t age, please do,” he says. “Analyze away, pick it apart, have fun, really go for it. Remember everyone’s favorite joke from season 4? ‘Cartoons don’t have to be 100 percent realistic.’ And then another Homer walks by the window.”
I was so relieved to hear Selman say that he still thinks all the old episodes *did* happen! He confirmed the showrunner isn’t planning to retcon anything, which is amazing. As he put it, no one wants their childhood messed with, and honestly, I agree! He doesn’t even see how they *could* alter things, because those episodes are still there for us to enjoy. It’s not like they’re taking them away or pulling some weird twist like, ‘Oh, it was all just a dream from the 70s,’ and they definitely weren’t trying to explain it away like that! It’s great to hear they respect the history of the show.
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Via Entertainment Weekly
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2025-10-04 18:41