Rumors of The Simpsons‘ impending end have been around almost as long as the show itself, and the producer of the world’s longest-running animated series just shut down a new round of cancellation rumors sparked by the composer of the show’s theme song.
Danny Elfman, the award-winning composer who wrote the score for the series back in 1989, suggested the show may be coming to an end during an appearance on the Irish podcast Joe.ie on Sunday.
“From what I’ve heard, it is coming to an end,” said Elfman. “I don’t know for a fact, but I’ve heard that it will be in its last year.”
The composer went on to clarify that he couldn’t confirm the rumor of the show’s impending end, adding, “Look I could be wrong.”
Elfman said that when he composed the now-iconic Simpsons theme three decades ago, he initially expected the show would “run three episodes and get cancelled,” and continues to be amazed by its longevity. “All I can say is I’m so flabbergasted and amazed that it lasted at long as it did.”
On Thursday, however, Simpsons producer Al Jean took to Twitter to deny Elfman’s claims that the show was on its way out. Jean tweeted a link to an article covering Elfman’s claims published in the Guardian, writing, “We are all thankful the following article is NOT TRUE.”
.@TheSimpsons We are all thankful the following article is NOT TRUE: https://t.co/2Z0VqdfIEM
— Al Jean (@AlJean) November 28, 2019
The show is currently in its 31st season, making it the longest-running US sitcom of all time at 670 total aired episodes to date.
Earlier this month, Simpsons fans were disappointed when widescreen formatting of the show on the newly launched streaming service Disney+ cropped scenes from earlier episodes of the show, in some cases ruining some of the show’s more subtle jokes.
All the classic Simpsons episodes on Disney+ are in cropped widescreen format — this means you miss out on tons of great visual jokes, like how Duff, Duff Lite and Duff Dry all come from the same tube. pic.twitter.com/cTy9adulFl
— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) November 12, 2019
The streaming service has since announced that classic formatting of the affected episodes will become available in 2020.
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