Kristen Bell will make a guest appearance in the animated series’ first ever fully musical outing.
From season four’s Marge vs. the Monorail to season six’s Homer the Great, countless classic Simpsons episodes have featured catchy singalong tunes – but now the long-running animated series is set to debut its first ever all-musical episode.
The season 33 premiere will be titled The Star of The Backstage, it was revealed at the show’s Comic-Con@Home panel yesterday (24th July).
The Simpsons’ executive producer Matt Selman described the instalment as “the most musical episode we’ve ever done” with “almost wall-to-wall music.”
“It’s like a Broadway musical of an episode with all original songs,” he revealed.
The episode will see Marge looking to restage her old high school musical, only to discover “that her high school memories aren’t what she thought they were.”
The Good Place star Kristen Bell will take on an unusual guest role in the episode, featuring as Marge’s singing voice. “We all love Marge’s voice [Julie Kavner],” said Selman. “but this is the singing voice that’s different, let’s just say.”
Bell’s influence on the episode doesn’t end there, since its premise was inspired by the format of Disney Plus reality series Encore which she hosted. The episode was written by Simpsons writer-producer Elisabeth Kiernan Averick, who previously worked on live-action musical series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Also announced at the Comic-Con@Home panel were the next, five-part Treehouse of Horror episode and a special Simpsons two-parter, A Serious Flanders, which is described as an “epic love letter to the show Fargo, prestige crime dramas, and the world of streaming television” and will feature guest vocals from Timothy Olyphant, Cristin Milioti, and Brian Cox.
You can watch The Simpsons’ full Comic-Con@Home panel below.