The thirty-second season of the Americananimated television seriesThe Simpsons is set to premiere on Fox on September 27, 2020. The season is set to contain twenty-two episodes, though twenty-nine scripts were ordered, and thus will contain the show's 700th episode. On February 6, 2019, the season was ordered along with the previous season.
Production
The season was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted many other television productions, but left animated production largely unaffected. Executive producer James L. Brooks encouraged the staff to begin working from their homes in early March 2020, before California's stay-at-home order was declared. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in late March 2020, showrunner Al Jean stated, "Production hasn't skipped a day or lost a beat." At that point seven episodes for the season, including the Treehouse of Horror episode, were already completed, and they had started reading the other twenty-two. Jean also stated that "we're a little ahead of where we usually are." The series had a panel at the 2020 San Diego Comic-Con, which was marketed as "Comic-Con@Home", to promote the season, with Al Jean, Matt Selman, David Silverman, Carolyn Omine, and Mike B. Anderson on the panel, with series regularYeardley Smith serving as moderator.
Casting
On June 26, 2020, it was reported that "Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters." It is not yet known when this change will take place. This follows Mike Henry stating that he will no longer voice the African American character Cleveland Brown on fellow Fox animated seriesFamily Guy, and Jenny Slate and Kristen Bell's announcement that they will no longer voice mixed-race characters on Big Mouth, and Central Park, respectively. It also follows series regular Hank Azaria's January 2020 announcement that he will no longer voice the Indian character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on The Simpsons.
Release
The season is set to premiere on September 27, 2020. The season will air on Sundays as part of Fox's Animation Dominationprogramming block, along with Bless the Harts, Bob's Burgers, and Family Guy.
