Another one bites the dust.
“The Simpsons” has killed off yet another longtime character – and fans of the hit animated sitcom are far from happy about it.
Alice Glick, Springfield’s First Church organist, died suddenly in the middle of a sermon during the Season 37 episode “Sashes to Sashes” on Sunday night.
The character, who was originally voiced by Cloris Leachman before Tress MacNeille took over after Leachman died in 2021, appeared on “The Simpsons” for a whopping 35 years and 34 seasons.
But this wouldn’t be the first time Alice, who made her debut in the Season 2 episode “Three Men and a Comic Book” in 1991, has seemingly been killed off.
Back during Season 22, she was attacked by a wild Robopet before returning several times – both alive and as a ghost, depending on the episode.
Executive producer Tim Long, however, confirmed that the character is gone for good this time around.
“In a sense, Alice the organist will live forever, through the beautiful music she made,” he told People. “But in another, more important sense, yep, she’s dead as a doornail.”
Fans of the show, meanwhile, rushed to social media to react to Alice the organist’s surprising death.
“Oh my gosh,” one person wrote on X. “Someone update The Simpsons wikis about Alice Glick.”
“Rest In Peace Mrs. Glick!” added another, while a third shared, “I think it’s the second time they’ve killed Ms. Glick.”
Other fans compared Alice’s death to Larry “The Barfly” Dalrymple, who was killed off last year in an episode called “Cremains of the Day.”
“1st Larry, now Alice Glick,” one viewer tweeted. “The Simpsons are killing off everyone…”
Co-executive producers Cesar Mazariegos and Jessica Conrad opened up about the decision to kill off Larry while clarifying whether they killed off another character, music teacher Dewey Largo, back in September.
“For something like this, I would welcome the riling up if you actually believe that we would kill him off-camera,” Conrad, who confirmed Mr. Largo was still alive, told TVLine regarding the backlash they received.
“When we killed off Larry the Barfly last year, that was a big discussion,” Mazariegos added. “But we usually don’t want to get rid of our characters. And it’s such a cartoony world. We know even if Moleman is in a car that explodes, it doesn’t mean he’s dead forever.”
“The Simpsons” came under serious fire in June when the series killed off family matriarch Marge Simpson during a flash-forward scene in the show’s Season 36 finale.
Executive producer Matt Selman later slammed the backlash and called it “ridiculous.”
“Obviously, since ‘The Simpsons’ future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they’re all different every time,” he told Variety at the time. “Marge will probably never be dead ever again.”
“The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago,” he added. “’The Simpsons’ doesn’t even have canon!”
Selman went on to welcome the backlash, arguing that it was proof “The Simpsons” and its characters are still relevant after more than 35 years on TV.
“I guess this speaks to the fact that people care about Marge,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s probably good for business even when these ridiculous, misleading stories go viral!”
“The Simpsons” premiered on Fox in 1989 and remains the longest-running animated show on TV.
Fox renewed the show, which has already won 37 Emmys, for four more seasons back in April.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
