Back in October The Simpsons announced that a major
character would be killed off in season 26. Killed off properly, not like how
Family Guy killed of Brian.
Since then, we’ve been informed that the character to go is
one who’s voice actor won an emmy for their performance. And just recently we’ve
learnt that it isn’t a character voiced by Hank Azaria. Which instantly rules
out a handful of characters as he voices an awful lot of them, including Moe
and Apu.
We also know it won’t be Edna; she’s to be retired
unrelatedly following the death of her voice actor, Marcia Wallace. As it’s a
major character, this rules out the two possible guest stars to win emmys;
Princess Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and Rabbi Krustofski (Jackie Mason/Dan
Castellaneta).
So who’s left up for the chop? Of the Simpson family only
Maggie is safe, with even Snowball and Santa’s Little Helper a possibility. Sideshow
Bob is another strong possibility. All the other possibilities seem less
likely, but include everyone voiced by Dan Castellaneta. That list is
ridiculously long, but the main highlights see Barney, Gil, Mayor Quimby,
Willie, Moleman, Krusty and the squeaky-voiced teen up against the reaper.
Any of these leaving is going to leave a hole in show and
change it some, but some will have a greater impact than others. Moleman and
Gil seem two pretty likely characters to go; though they’re instantly recognisable
they aren’t as common as the others, and will leave less of an impact behind.
And they aren’t exactly fan favourites, so the emotional response will be more
reasonable (unlike when Family Guy’s Brian went). Although taking one of those
two down seems a cop-out after all this build up. Who do you think will be
leaving for good?
Ari Carrington
@ari_carri