Harry Shearer Will Return to ‘The Simpsons’ After All
Mr. Burns” will be back. After negotiating a new deal, Harry Shearer is in fact returning to “The Simpsons,” Variety has confirmed.
Under the new pact, Shearer will continue to lend his voice to the characters of Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Waylon Smithers and Principal Skinner on the long-running Fox series through Seasons 27 and 28.
Shearer’s return comes after a public contract dispute, ultimately resulting in Shearer tweeting, back in May, that he’d be exiting the hit animated series after 26 seasons. He said, “This because I wanted what we’ve always had: the freedom to do other work.”
At the time, “Simpsons” exec producers Matt Groening, Al Jean and James L. Brooks released a statement, confirming his departure, and adding that Shearer’s roles would be recast, rather than his characters being killed off. “Harry Shearer was offered the same deal the rest of the cast accepted, and passed,” the trio stated. “The show will go on and we wish him well. Maggie took it hard.”
Burns had also publicly appealed Shearer’s decision to exit, suggesting that contract negotiations would continue. “Hey, we tried. We’re still trying. Harry, no kidding, let’s talk,” the producer tweeted in May.
Shearer’s return marks a full six-lead confirmation for Seasons 27 and 28, as all principal voice performers are now confirmed, including Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria. All have been in their roles since 1989.
“The Simpsons,” recently renewed through 2017, returns to Fox on Sept. 27.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
