Now that Fox has merged with Disney, there is speculation over the future of The Simpsons. Some fear that it will be moved over to a Disney-owned network and that new producers will mean significant changes in the iconic show.
Yeardley Smith, the actress who has voiced Lisa Simpson for the past 30 years, however, reckons that the show would sooner be cancelled than changed.
“When you’re dealing with something that is still so culturally relevant, and sort of such a pillar of our culture, if you’re going to mess with that, that’s some pretty risky territory,” Smith told The Hollywood Reporter. “So my feeling is — and I could be completely wrong — is that they would cancel it before they would change It [creatively].”
Smith also weighed in on what will happen to the 700+ episodes of The Simpsons that already exist and supposes that Disney will use the episodes for their new streaming service.
“When you are building a silo, you need content,” Smith explained. “Even though we have 700 episodes, when we have a marathon and you can devour that in 14 days, dude, you better keep making those episodes. For us, I think it’s very, very good as long as the writers and executive producers still want to keep making the show.”
She adds: “I’m optimistic.”
