The Surprising Way That Fans Want The Simpsons To Finally End

All good things must come to an end, except "The Simpsons," of course. Matt Groening's now 32-year-old animated series has been on this planet longer than Kristen Stewart, Grant Gustin, and "Law & Order," and there's no talk of it stopping any time soon. Skating over Springfield Gorge so the likes of "South Park," "Family Guy," and "Bob's Burgers" could run, Springfield's most famous family don't appear to have an end in sight — but that's not to say fans haven't theorized what it would look like.

After some 700-plus episodes of the iconic animated show, fans of "The Simpsons" have come up with various ways to unthinkably close out a show that has spanned almost four decades. Of course, the biggest challenge is giving a sendoff not just to the family at 742 Evergreen Terrace but also to its surrounding inhabitants. Springfield is a big town and needs a big goodbye. Thankfully, the die-hard fans of Groening's show have the answer to hand with such a task, and it's in the form of one last hurrah spanning an entire season.

Coming from a place on the internet where just about all good ideas happen (sort of), a great pitch from Theendf on Reddit suggested that the final season should end with each episode focusing on one or more characters, taking them into territory never before seen on "The Simpsons." In the case of Bart and Lisa, they can finally move on to the fifth and third grade respectively at school, given that we've seen them trapped at the same age since the very first episode.

In the case of background characters, the suggestion was that "Each character (like Apu or Moe) can be featured in at least one episode in the season and we'd see how their story ends. This way, the whole series and it's [sic] characters won't have to end in one 22 minute jam-packed episode." It certainly aligns with the sort of storytelling applied in classic episodes from the early seasons, but on a much bigger scale. Many fans were in agreement with the proposed ending, with some suggesting similar finales, though others predicted that "The Simpsons" might keep getting renewed even after it airs what is supposed to be the show's final episode.

Who knows? Matt Groening might have come across this very thread and may use it in the future, finally giving something for our great-great-grandkids to sit down with their offspring to see.