9 Ways The Simpsons Could End

All of this speculation of course assumes that the ending of The Simpsons will be treated as an actual event. The show has rarely had any major season premieres/finales - you have Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire, which by nature of being first was a special, then the cross-season two-parter Who Shot Mr Burns? and finally Behind The Laughter capping off Season 12 (which would have been an excellent finale by itself), but aside from that it's just normal episodes; you can argue special episodes like Season 2's Stark Raving Dad and Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? are note-worthy, but that's mainly down to their guest stars and accidental release order.

The same is true of "landmarks", such as anniversary episodes; as a by-product of the uncertainty of releases it's never known what episodes will come where in a season, so barring an irreversible change (Maude's death), things move randomly (Clown In The Dumps, where Krusty's Dad died, was even pushed back a year).

Why would things change now? What if the finale is just whatever episode was released last? If the show ever actually was cancelled, this would be the most likely, but there's no guarantee the writers wouldn't plump for it.

Of course, it'd be an incredibly muted finale and one that'd piss a lot of long-term fans off for being so ignominious, but when hasn't The Simpsons pissed off long-term fans in the past fifteen-or-so seasons?