Nancy Cartwright thinks The Simpsons is winding down.
The voice actor, who plays Bart and a number of other characters on the long-running animated sitcom, believes The Simpsons won’t last beyond Season 40, she said on the Inside of You podcast with Michael Rosenbaum. Cartwright, 68, has voiced Bart since The Simpsons’ first episode, in 1989.
When Rosenbaum asked when she thought the show would end, Cartwright didn’t mince words. “40,” she said. When Rosenbaum repeated her answer, saying, “You think it’ll stop at 40?” Cartwright had another one-word answer. “Yeah,” she said, adding, “It’s my opinion.”
The Simpsons just wrapped its 37th season, and Fox has renewed it through Season 40. Season 38’s release is slated for September 27, which means the acclaimed show would potentially end in 2029, if Cartwright’s prediction is correct.
With 808 episodes to date, The Simpsons holds the Guinness World Record for Longest-Running Animated Sitcom. Cartwright won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance as Bart in 1992. The show has collected 37 Emmy Awards through its tenure, and has received over 100 Emmy nominations.
The franchise announced its second feature film, The Simpsons Movie 2, will hit theaters on September 3, 2027. The first Simpsons Movie came out nearly two decades ago in 2007.
Cartwright clarified that she would “absolutely” be interested in continuing the show for as long as Fox keeps renewing. But she has one stipulation.
“Is everybody still alive?” she asked in a hypothetical question. When Rosenbaum affirmed, she said, “Yeah, we’ll keep going, then.”
