Homer And Marge Are Splitting Up In The New Season Of ‘The Simpsons’ So Homer Can Date Lena Dunham

Homer Simpson may be one of television’s most loveable and well-meaning oafs, but he’s also an objectively terrible husband. After being married to Marge for what probably amounts to 30 years, he’s shown little capacity for change. He still regularly embarrasses her in public. He continues to over-eat and binge-drink despite a number of near-death experiences. He forgets anniversaries. He regularly puts his feelings and ambitions above hers. He once chose a gun over his family. He routinely strangles his son and he’s directly responsible for at least a handful of people’s deaths. 

Now, in an interview with Variety, the show’s executive producer Al Jean has revealed Homer and Marge will be splitting up in the new season. “In the premiere, it’s discovered after all the years Homer has narcolepsy and it’s an incredible strain on the marriage,” he said. “Homer and Marge legally separate, and Homer falls in love with his pharmacist, who’s voiced by Lena Dunham.”

WHAT.

Firstly, if anything was going to break them up after all this time it should probably be something from the aforementioned list and not a chronic brain disorder he has no control over. Secondly, Marge would clearly be the first person to move on. The girl’s smart, creative, resilient and has already had French brunch-enthusiasts and a dreamy Alec Baldwin-voiced marine biologist falling at her feet. Thirdly, can you just not.

This #breaking #news comes off the back of a ridiculous number of other #hot #scoops including the fact the rest of the Girls cast will be dropping by for a cameo, Spider Pig is coming back, there’s going to be a Boyhood parody, and Sideshow Bob is finally going to kill Bart. Of course, that last one is going to be in a ‘Treehouse of Horror’ episode so it means precisely nothing, and it seems likely this breakup will amount to much the same. The news was casually dropped mid-interview, and it was worded as a “legal separation” instead of a “divorce”; Homer won’t spend a whole season in Kirk Van Houten’s racecar bed. I’ll take any money it’s resolved by the end of the episode.

All this hype also seems very deliberate when viewed in context with other news about the show. Now booked in for its 27th and 28th seasons, The Simpsons is facing some of its worst-ever ratings as well as the colossal loss of long-time voice actor Harry Shearer after he up-and-quit over disputes with the show’s creators.

Even Lena Dunham may not be enough to turn all that around.

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Season 27 of The Simpsons will premiere in the US on September 27.