Smithers Gets His First Ever Boyfriend In Landmark The Simpsons Episode

The long-standing character will bag himself a sugar daddy in the form of billionaire fashion mogul Michael De Graaf (voiced by Victor Garber) and you can watch the relationship unfold on 21 November.

While it's certainly a historical moment for the show, it's all thanks to series writer Rob LaZebnik's son who inspired the storyline - especially Smithers' coming-out episode which aired in 2016.

In that episode, we watched as Smithers confessed his feelings to Mr Burns who, in turn, rejected him. Thanks to time being the greatest healer, five years later Smithers has finally moved on.

He also went no to explain how he'd used his writing in the past to pay homage to Johnny.

Speaking about that, Rob said: "I am a Midwestern guy, so I don't tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve, but I thought, 'What better way to tell my son I love him than to write a cartoon about it?' Sometimes TV can have a real impact on people's thinking."

Also speaking to the publication, 27-year-old Johnny said: "So often, gay romances are a subplot or alluded to or shown in some kind of montage or as a punchline.

"What I think I was really excited about, with this episode, we get to see - without spoiling too much - the beginning, middle and who knows how it ends of a gay relationship, of really getting into the nitty-gritty of how gay people date, how they meet, what it's like.

"That was really special to me to get to highlight characters who are not punchlines, who are fully formed."

Johnny posted on Twitter about the episode, sharing a picture of the script which shows that the episode is called 'Portrait of a Lackey on Fire', it will be the eighth episode of Season 33.