A new season of The Simpsons arrives with an unerring sense of inevitability at this point, no matter where you sit on the longest-running animated series in the U.S. But with a new season, there comes a regular highlight of one of The Simpsons’ most beloved bits— the annual “Treehouse of Horror” anthology, and this year’s got a sneak peek at Comic-Con.
The highlight of a bumper-sized panel to tease the upcoming 33rd (!) season of the show at San Diego Comic-Con @ Home 2021 was the tease of a full interstitial piece from the upcoming “Treehouse of Horror XXXII”, one of five in the episode, up from the usual three. Starring regular guest voice actor Maurice LaMarche as Vincent Price, the segment sees Price read Maggie a tale of the Telltale Bart—no statue heads harmed this time around—a riff on the rhyming stylings of Edgar Allen Poe... just, y’know, without the Raven. Check out the snippet below!
“Treehouse of Horror XXXII” is set to air October 10, but before it arrives, the new season will debut with The Simpsons’ first completely musical episode, which is honestly a remarkable fact given that the show’s not only been running for so long but has done many delightful musical numbers over the years. As EW reports, the premiere, “The Star of the Backstage,” will release this September, and stars The Good Place’s Kristen Bell as Marge’s internal singing voice, when the Simpsons matriarch decides to host a 20-year-reunion of her high school musical about...the Y2K bug? Ah, Simpsons’ shifting timeline strikes again.
You can check out the rest of the SDCC panel above for insights for what to expect from the next season from Matt Selman, Al Jean, David Silverman, Carolyn Omine, Mike B. Anderson, Debbie Mahan, special guest Matt Groening, and Lisa Simpson herself, Yeardley Smith—but honestly, it’s worth checking out the opening couchless-couch gag giving a Simpsons riff on contemporary streaming wars. It’s pretty cute...especially compared to the recent times The Simpsons has been dragged into some corporate synergy for said streaming wars.
The Simpsons’ 33rd season kicks off on September 26.
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