If you've got about 3 minutes in your day and need another serotonin boost after the 2021 May the Fourth celebrations have come and gone, may I recommend watching the new Simpsons/Star Wars crossover short Maggie Simpson in 'The Force Awakens From Its Nap'? It's a fun, jam-packed, silly-but-reverent fusion of Star Wars and Springfield, and it represents an intriguing future for more Simpsons one-offs that might play in more Disney-owned worlds.
That is, if the Simpsons team is planning on making more one-off short films that play in Disney-owned worlds. Are they? I'm so glad you asked.
I spoke with long-running Simpsons showrunner and co-writer of the short Al Jean over the phone recently, and when I asked him if there were any plans to craft a Simpsons/Star Wars trilogy, continuing with a Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker riff, he told me, "I'd love to do another, and we're working on doing other collaborations with other Disney+ properties. So it's a really exciting thing to be doing." Jean also revealed, taking care not to spoil any fun reveals, that "there's one coming" soon, within the upcoming months.
So what else could The Simpsons invade, especially very soon? There's obviously tons of Disney-owned properties to plow through — more Star Wars, the X-Men, the Pixar universe — but my money's on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since it was announced that The Simpsons would be available on Disney+, the image of Homer in an ill-fitting Iron Man suit has haunted my brains as a gag worth exploring (or maybe the entire family is the Fantastic Four, with Maggie as a Doctor Doom with a metal pacifier?). Plus, the next few months include all kinds of splashy MCU properties, especially with the one-two punch of Black Widow and Loki.
We'll keep you updated once we know for sure what future Simpsons/Disney+ crossover shorts will look like, and be on the lookout for our full interview with Jean coming soon.