Do you fear that this is soon the end for the Simpsons? This should immediately reassure you! – News series

It was one of the highlights of this 2025 edition. Matt Groening was awarded an honor crystal by the Annecy festival teams, a prize that rewards all of the work also including the Futurama, disenchanted and of course the Simpsons. The creator of the cult series did not come alone to Annecy, since he appeared accompanied by screenwriter Matt Selman and director David Silverman.

A famous French comic book inspired the Simpsons?

This trio thus returned to the incredible history of the animation series, in front of several hundred people as well as two very special guests: Philippe Peythieu and Véronique Augereau, the French voices of Homer and Marge Simpson. The two dubbing actors received a deserved ovation from Annecy's public, but also the praises of three guests.

“It's great that translators all over the world can appropriate our work and adapt our jokes to the specifics of their language” Enthusiastic the scriptwriter Matt Selman was enthusiastic. Small “new” in the team – he has only been working on the series for 27 years only – the latter now occupies a fundamental place in writing the program.

“Many people are asking questions about the continuity and consistency of the series. But the truth is that we are doing a brain series, and that's all” Amused the screenwriter, who quotes … Asterix as one of his sources of inspiration. “I can't help but see the city of Springfield as something similar to the village of Asterix, with all its wacky characters.”

What character of the Simpsons compares Matt Groening compared?

Matt Groening has returned to the genesis of the program. He recalled a well-known anecdote of fans, namely that the characters of the Simpsons are inspired by his family members: his parents were called Homer and Marge, his grandfather Abraham and his sister Lisa. “Should I conclude that I am Bart? Well no, I'm a milhouse” concluded the latter, in reference to the best friend Petochard and Pleurnichard de Bart Simpson.

In the 80s, before the series made its debut, “There was no series of animation in prime-time” recalls Matt Groening. And yet, the latter remembers having grown up with lots of animated programs broadcast in the evening. Luckily, the leaders of the Fox chain at that time were the same age as him.

The Fox proposed to Matt Groening the order of four episodes, but it managed to negotiate for 30 episodes at once. A choice that turned out to be decisive, in particular because the first episode produced was not at all up to expectations: “The first episode was such a disaster that we hid it to the chain, and we waited several months before bringing it out.”

The next predictions of the Simpsons team

Finally, can we evoke the Simpsons without mentioning the many predictions made by the series on authentic historical events? Over the years, the series has notably managed to predict the election of Donald Trump, the redemption of Fox by Disney or the invention of connected watches.

Seening a Simpson margin wig which he appeared styled when he entered the stage, Matt Groening reveals that all the predictions made by the series were via papers drawn in this wig. “We are time travelers and wizards” had fun saying the latter, before director David Silverman draws a first paper.

“The statue of freedom will soon be returned to France, because in the United States the word freedom no longer makes sense” said the latter, causing laughter and then the applause of the public. The paper drawn by Matt Groening predicted that the series will be broadcast until the year 3000 (but that the quality of the program will be considered to be declining during the last 1000 years).

It was on these good words that the panel devoted to Simpsons ended. There is no doubt that the presence of the trio in charge of writing, the production and realization of the animated series did not disappoint the festival -goers present this year in Annecy. And that lets us see that the broadcast of the program which has 36 seasons to date and nearly 800 episodes is not ready to end!

The integral of the Les Simpson series can now be found on Disney+.

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