Analyzing the Growing Concern Centered on the Voice Cast of "The Simpsons"

We all love The Simpsons, don't we? It's the ultimate cross-generational show. I grew up with this show in the 1990s, and even now, it's still on and obliterating that bar set by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's The Flintstones back in the 1960s. The Simpsons is the ultimate primetime animated series; has been for decades now. I'm barely old enough to remember when the series aired on Thursdays. It's been a Sunday night series for 30 years now.

On May 18, 2025, The Simpsons' 36th season finale aired on Fox. The episode, titled "Estranger Things," was the 790th episode of the series. And there's moe coming. A month prior to the end of Season Thirty-Six, the show received a huge renewal. Four more years! A four year renewal hit the show in April of 2025, and with the show set to run through the 2028-29 season, The Simpsons is set to turn forty! They say life begins at 40, which is an age I reached two months ago.

Now I've written about the unfair criticism against the show. Let's get one thing straight. I will always disagree with the crap stating that the show is "stale," or has "lost its way." I am tired of that crap and I'm tired of people making those baseless claims as reasons why the show should end. I will never agree to the belief that the show should end because it's "not as good as it was 25 or 30 years ago." That's a load of crap.

However, there is one big concern that I can't help but agree with, and we've all heard it and said it. So let's address the elephant in the room, and no, I'm not talking about Stampy. The true concern regarding the show is a noticeable one that cannot be ignored: the voice cast is not getting any younger.

Dan Castellaneta

Without question, Dan Castellaneta is my favorite Simpsons cast member. Out of the three cast members who have the highest amount of characters, I've always loved Castellaneta's the best. Castellaneta's group of characters include, but aren't limited to, Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, Hans Moleman, Mayor "Diamond" Joe Quimby, Groundskeeper Willie, Sideshow Mel, Arnie Pie, and Krusty the Klown, among a few others. Castellaneta's one of four cast members who has voiced Homer Simpson since the Tracey Ullman Show days back in 1987. He's 67 years of age right now, but we haven't really heard any decline in his voice work. Even so, he's 67, and he's done this for more than half of his life.

Julie Kavner

One of the main topics of concern regarding the aging voice cast is Julie Kavner, who was also part of the Tracey Ullman cast from 1987-89. Kavner has voiced Marge Simpson since 1987, and her other characters only include female members of the Bouvier family, mainly Marge's sisters, Patty and Selma, and their mother Jacqueline. Many Simpsons fans, myself included, can't help but notice that Marge's voice is aging... immensely. It's been like that for about six or seven years now. Every time I watch a very recent Simpsons episode and hear Marge's voice, it reminds me of when Casey Kasem's voice finally lost that youth at around 2006 or 2007 as he was voicing Shaggy. Kavner's 74 and will turn 75 in September; the second-oldest of the core cast.

Nancy Cartwright

I'm a huge fan of Nancy Cartwright's work, which has included voicing Mindy on Animaniacs, voicing Pistol on Goof Troop, and replacing the late, great Christine Cavanaugh as the voice of Chuckie Finster on Rugrats. Of course, Cartwright's greatest claim to fame will always be Bart Simpson, having voiced the "underachiever, and proud of it" since 1987. Cartwright's other characters also include Nelson Muntz, Rod and Todd Flanders, Database, Kearney Zzyzwicz, and the "walking non sequitur" (described by Cartwright herself) known as Ralph Wiggum, among a few others. Cartwright is also 67; in fact, she was born just four days before Dan Castellaneta.

Yeardley Smith

At age 60, Yeardley Smith is the youngest of the core cast members. Of course, Smith also has the distinction of being the only member of that sextet to voice only one character. She's voiced Lisa Simpson since the Ullman years, and I still remember this story that Smith had originally auditioned for Bart, while Cartwright auditioned for Lisa. The powers that be swapped the roles, and the rest is TV history--big time. We haven't really heard any hardcore aging from Smith or Cartwright, but even so, they've been doing this for a long time, and that can really affect things.

Hank Azaria

Just to go off-topic a bit, is it me or does Hank Azaria kinda resemble a young Christopher Lloyd? Regarding Azaria, he's the second-youngest cast member, having turned 61 a month prior. He's also the newest of the six cast members. While he's one of two cast members to join the show when it became a series in 1989, Azaria wasn't promoted to the main cast until Season Three in 1991, but even so, 35 years is a long time. Hank Azaria's characters currently include (but aren't limited to) Professor Frink, Superintendent Chalmers, Comic Book Guy, Chief Wiggum, and my favorite Azaria character, Moe Szyslak. Out of Azaria's characters, only Moe's really changed, but it was Azaria making Moe more gravelly than he was in earlier seasons, and I think the age actually helped in that regard.

Harry Shearer

Another very huge concern regarding the age of cast members is centered on Harry Shearer, who is the oldest out of the main cast at 81. Many fans have been concerned about Shearer, not only because of his advanced age, but also the fact that Shearer, in the past, had voiced a desire to actually leave the show about a few years ago. Shearer has a plethora of memorable characters in his repetoire: Ned Flanders, Lenny Leonard, Principal Seymour Skinner, Rev. Timothy Lovejoy, Otto Mann, Waylon Smithers, Jr., Kent Brockman, and his best known character, Charles Montgomery Burns. The voice work for Mr. Burns has drawn the most attention, as it's clear that the Burns voice is aging badly. We hear it in some of his other characters, but Burns' voice really received a lot of attention, as not only is the character 104 years of age, he certainly sounds like it.

In Closing

As I said earlier, we have (at least) four more years of The Simpsons. By the time that extension ends in 2029, four out of the six core cast members will, at least, be in their seventies. Julie Kavner will be almost 80, and Harry Shearer will be 85. I had considered bringing this up sooner when the news broke about Pamela Hayden retiring from voice acting earlier this season. Pamela Hayden, 71, voiced her share of characters on the long-running series, but her two main characters were Milhouse Van Houten and Jimbo Jones. There's also Tress MacNeille, who has been on the show for years voicing characters like Agnes Skinner, Lindsey Naegle, and Dolph for decades. The advanced ages of the main cast are a huge concern, and from the vibe I'm getting, the show does not have a Plan B in case anyone from that core group either retires or, God forbid, passes on.

If the powers that be actually have backup actors to fill in for those important characters, then I think the show can last past this current extension. If not, honestly, the four years need to be used to prepare for the beginning of the end. I know this much: if the show actually does come to an end, especially at Season Forty, that's going to be a huge event that will be promoted repeatedly. There will definitely not be a dry eye in so many households, and I think the series finale, whenever that hits, will be the most watched televised event ever. I will not entertain the idea of ending The Simpsons for the aforementioned biased reasons that people love to state. However, when it comes to the welfare of the core voice cast, that should definitely play a factor in considering ending one of the greatest shows of all time.