Matt Selman, showrunner for The Simpsons, has revealed what fans of the show can expect from its final ever episode.
The Simpsons has been a fan-favorite since it aired its first episode on December 17, 1989.
Now, 35 years later, the series is still going strong, having aired 781 episodes, making it the longest-running American animated series, longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, both in seasons and individual episodes.
The beloved dysfunctional family were also stars of a feature-length film, The Simpsons Movie, which was released in 2007, with a sequel currently underway,
Given that the show is such a critical and commercial success, fans are hoping there may be several more series to come before we have to say goodbye to Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and the rest of the cast of characters altogether.
But when that devastating day does come, there's already a plan in place for how it's all going to end.
Viewers were left shocked in October when the Season 36 premiere was titled the "series finale", before revealing that the storyline of the episode had been generated by AI.
While the episode wasn't really the end of the show - thank heavens - showrunner Matt Selman revealed that it had come about due to discussions over what the last-ever episode of the series would eventually entail.
He told the New York Post: "The discussion that it would be so hard to do a last episode is what led to the fake series finale. That it’s sort of an impossible thing.
"The show isn’t meant to end. To do a sappy crappo series finale, like most other shows do, would be so lame. So we just did one that was like over the top."
He revealed that he would want the final episode of the beloved cartoon sitcom to be just "a regular episode", explaining: "The characters in this crazy show don’t age … I think later we’ll just pick an episode and say that was the last one. No self-aware stuff. Or, one self-aware joke."
Selman added that he hopes the final episode will end up being "a really good story about the family" instead of something predictable.
He revealed that many people's ideas of what a series finale should be "are based on having watched other last shows," adding: "And I don’t think it should be a response to the litany of last shows that already exist. We covered that area."
Selman joked that the "laziest idea" for the finale would be to make it a parody of 'A Christmas Carol' with Mr Burns playing the role of Scrooge.
Thankfully, the show doesn't appear to be coming to an end anytime soon (at least we hope not), but there is a new Christmas special - titled 'O C’mon All Ye Faithful' - which sees Homer causing chaos after being hypnotized into believing he's Santa Claus, available now on Disney+.
