The Simpsons Kills Off Marge Simpson in Season 36 Finale

The Simpsons ended its 36th season with a shocking death in the Simpson family.

The animated series killed off matriarch Marge Simpson (voiced by Julie Kavner) during the season finale, which aired May 18. The jaw-dropping moment comes with a caveat, however, as it happened during a flash-forward scene 35 years into the future when Marge’s children Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie are adults.

In the episode titled “Estranger Things,” Marge’s worst fear comes true when her older two grow apart from one another after growing out of their favorite kids’ show, The Itchy & Scratchy Show, which they had bonded over. 

Their lives end up taking different paths, with Lisa becoming the commissioner of the NBA and Bart running an unlicensed retirement home that their father Homer Simpson lives in without Marge.

While the episode doesn’t share insight into how or why she died, it features a brief funeral scene at her tombstone. At another point, Lisa refers to her “late mother” and later reads a letter that Marge had written “to be opened after I pass,” during which a young-looking Marge calls it “very unlikely” that she’d die before her husband.