The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and showrunner Matt Selman are not preparing a carefully mapped farewell for the series. In fact, their preferred vision appears to be no formal ending at all — and, if the show must stop, a sudden finish rather than an extended goodbye.

Speaking during a keynote conversation at The Hollywood Reporter’s first Most Powerful People in Animation breakfast on Friday, Groening repeated the answer he gives when asked about the show’s eventual conclusion: “No end in sight.”

“And that’s how we all want to die, right? By surprise,” Groening joked, drawing laughs from the room. Selman pushed the idea even further, quipping, “Just yank it. Just shoot it in the back of the head. … Other than that, it’s never going to end.”

A Future Beyond Its Current Team

Selman’s comments suggested that the continuation of The Simpsons does not necessarily depend on the same people remaining in charge indefinitely. He said he hopes new creative voices can eventually carry the series forward.

“I would love to not cling to the show forever and let fresh people keep it amazing forever,” Selman explained. “I hope the show goes on forever, but I don’t need to be the guy forever, and I had a good run.”

The conversation came after the series surpassed 800 episodes earlier this year. Looking back on his own three decades with the show, Selman said the lasting reward was being able to spend that time “having fun and being silly with fun, silly people,” even during the most stressful periods.

He also joked that almost everyone who left the show regretted the decision, naming David X. Cohen, Greg Daniels and Conan O’Brien as possible exceptions.

Groening and Selman also addressed the show’s reputation for making predictions. Groening offered a deliberately dark example of what it might foresee next, joking that live executions could eventually be livestreamed, with animators adding “wacky sound effects” including a gong, a zap and sad trombones.

Why the Second Movie Took So Long

While there may be no ending in view for the television series, another major Simpsons project is moving ahead. Simpsons Movie 2 is upcoming and will arrive 20 years after the first film.

Groening said the demands of making the original movie explain the long gap between installments. The film was created with the same writers, the same animators and the same overall team working on the series, making the process especially difficult.

“We still haven’t recovered from the first movie, basically,” Groening said. He added that the team has finally recovered enough that it no longer remembers just how hard the experience was.

The remarks connected two sides of the show’s future: a television run its creators currently see as open-ended and a second theatrical project emerging two decades after the first.

Animation Event Also Spotlights Tangles

The breakfast, held at Spago Beverly Hills, was tied to the publication’s inaugural Animation Power List. Paramount Animation, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and ASIFA sponsored the gathering, which celebrated established animation figures as well as newcomers.

A second conversation focused on Tangles, an animated film that debuted at Cannes this year. The story follows a young woman who returns to her conservative small town after her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Voice stars Abbi Jacobson and Samira Wiley discussed the unusual opportunity to record together in the same booth. Wiley said the film’s performances would not be what they are without the chemistry created by sharing the room.

Jacobson recorded with co-stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Bryan Cranston, both together and separately. She described the experience as a possible “career high” and recalled being “soaking wet with my own tears” when she first watched the finished film.

Jacobson also praised the way Tangles combines the sadness of Alzheimer’s with humor. She said the film captures the funny moments that can exist alongside an experience she described as one of the hardest people can face.

Other attendees included Margie Cohn and Kristin Lowe of DreamWorks Animation, Carolyn Roach of Skydance Animation, Warner Bros. Animation’s Peter Girardi and Matt Matzkin, Forgotten Island directors Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford, former Disney animator Mark Henn, actress Tara Strong, Cartoon Saloon CEO Anthony Leo, Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond, Verve co-founder Bryan Besser, Point Grey president James Weaver, and Sony Animation’s Kristine Belson and Damien de Froberville.

ShowBiz Take

After more than 800 episodes, the striking part of Groening and Selman’s outlook is not an ending plan but the absence of one. Selman can imagine handing the show to fresh talent, while Groening continues to answer questions about its finale with “no end in sight.” Their comments frame the series’ future around creative succession rather than a scheduled farewell.

At the same time, Simpsons Movie 2 gives the team a confirmed next chapter outside the television run. The long interval between movies also underscores Groening’s account of how demanding the first film was for the people simultaneously making the series.

What Happens Next?

No timetable for ending The Simpsons was announced. For now, Groening and Selman are publicly treating its conclusion as neither planned nor imminent, while the upcoming second movie stands as the next confirmed expansion of the show’s story.