Fans of The Simpsons were in for a surprise when a longtime character was killed off after 35 seasons.
During this week’s episode, First Church Organist Alice Glick (voiced by Cloris Leachman and Tress MacNeille) died during a sermon. She was honored in a memorial service by Springfield Elementary before it was revealed that she left her estate to fund the school’s new music program.
Alice, who has appeared on the show for 35 seasons, previously appeared to die after being attacked by a rogue Robopet. The season 22 episode made fans concerned about her fate, but she ultimately returned for several episodes — sometimes in ghost form.
Executive producer Tim Long addressed the decision to officially kill off Alice.
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“In a sense, Alice the organist will live forever, through the beautiful music she made,” he said in a statement. “But in another, more important sense, yep she’s dead as a doornail.”
Alice’s death comes one year after Larry “the Barfly” Dalrymple was written off. Larry, who had been on the animated series since its 1989 pilot, died in an April 2024 episode, which left viewers shocked.
It hasn’t been an easy year for TV fans as multiple beloved characters have died on screen. 9-1-1 threw Us for a loop when an April episode ended with Peter Krause‘s Bobby being secretly infected with a rare and fatal virus. As viewers coped with the shocking exit, Krause, 60, shared an emotional letter about the shakeup.
“In October 2017, through him, we began tackling topics such as grief, guilt, anger and addiction while exploring his relationship with a higher power, forgiveness and grace,” he wrote via X at the time. “On his path of healing, we watched him join and embrace both his new family at the firehouse and his new family with Athena Grant where he found love and acceptance. We also had plenty of fun along the way. It was a joy.”
Krause described Bobby’s death as a major “loss.”
“I’ve heard that many fans are upset by this loss and they have a right to be. It is a loss. That said, it was more than a bold creative choice on a bold show. Bobby Nash was written in sacrifice and he was built for this,” he continued. “First responders risk their lives on the job so that others can see another day. His story arc honors them. We at 911 salute all the incredible men and women who do these dangerous jobs and strive to keep us safe.”
The White Lotus, meanwhile, concluded season 3 that same month with Rick (Walton Goggins) briefly finding peace before he murdered Jim (Scott Glenn) — who turned out to be his father. His girlfriend, Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), got stuck in the crossfire.
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“It’s weird,” Wood, 31, admitted at a post-finale panel. “Because for about two weeks before we shot it, I felt super weird. It was, like, this odd, ominous thing that was just hanging over us.”
Knowing where Chelsea was going to end up affecting Wood’s performance.
“I didn’t expect it to feel like that for such a long time before. Chelsea doesn’t know what’s gonna happen to her, but I know. So it’s this odd thing,” she continued. “[The finale] looked exactly how it felt, which was really strange. Like that whole bit, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly what it felt like.’”
She added: “There’s a lot in that episode that made me f***ing sob a lot from the beginning. It’s so clever, because at the end, you want to hold the joy of triumph. But it’s still there like, so it might just make you sit in that really achy place. So I feel achy.”
