Fans of The Simpsons were left baffled after the long-running cartoon aired its 'series finale'.
A staple on our television screens since 1989, The Simpsons is one of the world's most iconic and easily recognised shows.
A satirisation of life in middle-America, the cartoon has managed to grow over the decades while simultaneously not having a character age a single day in its 35-year run.
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The show has also been packed full of celebrity cameos and pop-culture references over the years - with several people even claiming the showrunners had predicted the future on a number of occasions.
However, for fans tuning in the season 36 premiere last night (29 September), it looked like all of this was about to be over for good.
The episode - titled 'Bart's Birthday' - opened with former writer Conan O’Brien explaining that he was back to give the famous family their final send off.
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"It’s such an honour to be with you all for the series finale of The Simpsons," O’Brien said in his opening remarks.
And with that the 'final' episode was underway, featuring classic The Simpsons recreations of show finales from Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and Succession.
Meanwhile it appeared the episode was about to do something never seen before in a Simpsons episode - have a character actually age up on their birthday.
However, Bart ultimately rejected turning 11 at the last minute and refused to blow out his birthday candles, an act which reset the events of the episode and meant The Simpsons wasn't actually ending after all.
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Phew.
So why open the 36th season with the series finale? The decision has since been addressed by showrunner Matt Selman during an interview with Vulture, where he explained artificial intelligence had been used to recreate all the cliche 'finale' moments - such as Principal Skinner quitting his job at Springfield Elementary and Mr Burns dying - in order to make a jab at the unimaginative nature of AI.
"AI is good at regurgitating but not at being imaginative," he said.
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Selman also touched on the difficult nature of ending a show which is created to go in indefinitely and therefore didn't need a finale filled with nostalgia moments and star-studded cameos.
"It can go on forever because it doesn’t have a hard canon or a dense continuity," he added.
As for the reaction from fans, once they'd gotten over the shock of the cartoon potentially ending, it would appear the episode was a huge hit.
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"The Simpsons pulling off a fake series finale with an AI twist is a perfect example of how they’ve mastered staying relevant. It’s hilarious they had fans fooled, but it’s clear the show isn’t going anywhere anytime soon," one person wrote on X, while a second added: "So, The Simpsons series finale was excellent, great concept, hilarious satire, and a great ratings trap."
Topics: TV, The Simpsons, AI
Brenna Cooper