Summary

• The Simpsons season 36 is already causing confusion with early retcons before it has even started.
• Characters in The Simpsons have inconsistent ages, with Grampa now being revealed as a detective in the '80s.
• The possibility of characters aging realistically in season 36 could change the show's formula and storytelling style.

While I understand that The Simpsons season 36 hasn’t even started yet, and already I have no idea what’s going on with the show’s canon. This is nothing new, as longtime viewers of the series can attest. The Simpsons has always taken a playful approach to its continuity, frequently retconning events, changing the birthdates of central characters, and making use of the creative freedom that comes with its cartoon status. However, even in this context, I’m confused by season 36’s plans.

While The Simpsons characters don’t age, this isn’t unique to the series. The characters of South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, and Bob's Burgers all remained the same age for over a decade, and even Rick and Morty doesn't address the static, unchanging age of its heroes despite the show’s meta self-awareness. However, The Simpsons takes things further by frequently altering the ages of the characters depending on the episode. Since Homer was around forty when the series began in 1989 and remains the same age in 2024, it’s not clear if he was born in the ‘60s or ‘80s.

The Simpsons Season 36 Reveals Grampa’s Past

The ing Star Reveals He Was A Detective In The ‘80s

Rather than clarifying this question with an answer, The Simpsons season 36 has made its own continuity even weirder with one Grampa-centric storyline. According to ComicBook.com, The Simpsons season 36 will feature an episode where Grampa reveals his past as a detective in the ‘80s. This is bizarre since The Simpsons began in 1989 and Grampa was already an elderly man living in a retirement home at that stage. He served in WWII, which was set in stone as recently as the show’s season 35 finale. Season 35, episode 18, “Bart’s Brain,” centered its plot around Grampa’s war medals.

If Grampa was a detective during the ‘80s, he would already have been in his ‘70s.

Thus, it is bizarre to see season 36 retcon this by making Grampa a detective in his dotage. The Simpsons season 36 promises to change a lot of the show's formula, with the same announcement heavily implying that Bart might finally turn 11 in this season’s premiere. However, this only makes things stranger. After all, if the characters in The Simpsons start to age normally in season 36, the question of how Grampa has been alive since around 1910 becomes even more complicated. If Grampa was a detective during the ‘80s, he would already have been in his ‘70s by then.

Grampa’s ‘80s Career Is The Latest Simpsons Canon Change

Marge and Homer’s Ages Have Changed Countless Times

I’m confused by the revelation that Grampa was a detective in the ‘80s, but this is far from the first time that The Simpsons has retconned the age of its main characters. Homer and Marge's high school courtship was chronicled in season 2, episode 12, “The Way We Was,” and this outing revealed that the pair were in their teens during the ‘70s. A few decades later, season 33, episode 1, “Star of the Backstage,” retconned this by showing that Homer and Marge were teenagers in the late ‘90s. This episode revealed their high school musical was about the Millennium Bug.

I don’t know how viewers are supposed to keep track of this ever-changing canon, particularly when The Simpsons has repeatedly retconned the same story in different episodes. However, I’m not alone in thinking this is a weird creative choice. In season 19, episode 11, “That ‘90s Show,” The Simpsons depicted Marge and Homer as young adults in the ‘90s. This effectively retconned the show’s Golden Age, which portrayed the pair as middle-aged parents during this era. Season 7, episode 24, “Homerpalooza,” saw Home struggle to understand grunge culture, whereas “That ‘90s Show” saw him headline a successful grunge band in the ‘90s.

Typically, nothing changes in the world of The Simpsons.

The Simpsons Season 36 May Finally Age Its Characters

Bart’s Birthday Could Signify A Big Change For The Show

Although The Simpsons season 36’s best trick is its Treehouse of Horror Presents episode, this is not the riskiest of the season’s creative decisions. If the episode centered on Bart’s birthday does finally age up one of the show’s protagonists, The Simpsons may change forever thanks to its characters aging realistically. Within a few years, viewers could reasonably expect that Maggie would learn to speak, Bart and Lisa would attend high school, and some older ing characters might even die permanently. All of these changes would fly in the face of the show’s usual approach to its canon.

The Simpsons has killed off characters like Dr. Marvin Monroe, Dr. Nick, and Ralph Wiggum only to revive them without any explanation.

Typically, nothing changes in the world of The Simpsons. The show has killed off characters like Dr. Marvin Monroe, Dr. Nick, and Ralph Wiggum only to revive them without any explanation mere episodes later. The Simpsons retconned Fat Tony’s death before making him one of the show’s most-used villains, proving in the process that canon veracity holds little sway over the show’s creative choices. The Simpsons has made a fine art of resetting its status quo after each episode’s standalone story, but the introduction of character aging would signal an unavoidable shift into a more serialized storytelling style.

Why The Simpsons Changing Their Ages Is So Confusing

The Simpsons Frequently Visits The Family’s Future

There is an argument to be made for The Simpsons aging its characters realistically precisely because this would avoid issues like season 36's Grampa storyline. Grampa’s season 36 story could have made sense if The Simpsons started aging its characters earlier, and the show could still clarify the plot's timeline if it turns out Grampa was in his ‘70s during the episode’s events. Although this would make sense in this isolated incident, I still think The Simpsons should introduce realistic aging for its characters more broadly. After all, the show’s current approach makes its timeline impossible to follow.

If the Simpson family started aging with each ing year, their futures would no longer be an open question.

In two separate episodes, Lisa has been a one-year-old baby and an engaged college student in 2010. The Simpsons’ future-set episodes promised various fascinating futures for the show’s heroes, but the characters never get any closer to these events. If the Simpson family started aging with each ing year, their futures would no longer be an open question that is only addressed by the occasional standalone episode. Instead, The Simpsons could finally catch up with the future of its characters and depict the most exciting events in Marge, Homer, Lisa, Bart, and Maggie’s later lives.

Source: ComicBook.com