The Simpsons has had a number of shorts since it was acquired by Disney, some featuring crossovers between everyone’s favorite Springfield family and the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars.
In an interview with CBR, co-showrunner Al Jean looked back at the origins of these crossovers, the likes of which include the recently released “The Good, The Bart, and The Loki.” Jean explained, “On Disney+, we’re really thrilled to be on it. We do well, but there’s no Simpsons tile. You can’t push the thing that says, “The Simpsons,” like Marvel. So Jim Brooks thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if we could do these crossover shorts with Star Wars? With Marvel?”
He went on to explain how each short was planned to coincide with a major event. “Once we got the deal in January, our first thought was, ‘Let’s hit May the Fourth be with you.’ Then, when we were finishing that, we thought, ‘Okay, Loki is coming out at the end of June.'” The showrunner then revealed his personal connection to the properties, “I personally have been a Marvel collector since I was six. The first comic book I bought was Fantastic Four #64. I have the first Thor with Loki in it. So this was a dream come true.”
Jean described the creative freedom that Disney+ granted them and the efforts that went into ensuring each crossover was an epic experience for viewers. “They couldn’t have been nicer. They said, ‘Oh, you want to use the Avengers music? Go ahead!’ and just did what they could to have us get Tom Hiddleston in it, which was fantastic, which really, to me, put it over the top,” Jean said.
However, one of the motivations the series creators had for the crossovers was the fact that The Simpsons did not have its own tile on the streaming service’s home screen. “There’s no tile that actually says ‘The Simpsons,'” Jean stated in an interview with Variety.
For that reason, both he and co-creator and executive producer James L. Brooks should invade other franchises through a series of crossovers. “It was just the desire that we had to reach out to the viewers [of] the other branches of Disney Plus, to see if they would be interested in us — you know, if they hadn’t seen us as much,” Jean explained.
Source: CBR, Variety
About The Author
