An Early Idea for ‘The Simpsons Movie 2’ Became One of the Show’s Most Controversial Episodes

After nearly two decades, there’s finally going to be another entry in the SCU (Springfield Cinematic Universe).

2007’s The Simpsons Movie is officially getting a sequel, which is reportedly set to be released in theaters on July 23, 2027. According to Variety, the animated flick will take the place of “an untitled Marvel project,” which may or may not have been Morbius II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold.

As some fans pointed out, the sequel’s release date is just mere days within the deadline previously established by Bart Simpson’s chalkboard gag from the Season 19 premiere.

Beyond a poster depicting Homer’s disembodied hand snagging another frosted pink donut, we’ve been given zero information as to what the movie will actually be about, but do know what the movie won’t be about. That’s because one early idea for a Simpsons Movie sequel was completed and released back in 2015. And it’s only 22 minutes long.

Season 26’s “The Man Who Came to Be Dinner” found the Simpson family visiting a Disneyland-esque theme park only to be trapped on a spaceship controlled by Kang and Kodos and ferried to Rigel 7. Upon landing on the alien planet, the Simpsons are imprisoned in a zoo enclosure that’s made to look like their Evergreen Terrace living room, and Homer is condemned to be killed and eaten by the Rigellians.

Which, come to think of it, contradicted the key conceit from Kang and Kodos’ debut episode. 

This marked the only time that the one-eyed drooling aliens made a starring appearance in a Simpsons episode that wasn’t an annual “Treehouse of Horror” installment. As producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weekly at the time, the show was originally planned as the Season 24 finale, but he and executive producer James L. Brooks decided to save the idea for a potential Simpsons Movie sequel plot line. 

“Two of the allures were exploring the rules of the new world and the cinematic nature of doing something in space,” Jean explained. “But then we were worried that people might think it’s an idea that’s not canonical — it doesn’t really happen, unlike all of (the) other 560 episodes that really ‘happened’ — so the ultimate decision was to air it as an episode.” 

“It just got to the point where if we were unsure about it as a movie, then it would be good to air the episode,” he continued. “And then if we do a movie, we’d just think of something else. So if you want to know what was thought of a possible Simpsons Movie 2, we just aired it — for free. You can see it for free!”

But the episode proved to be highly controversial. Fans on Reddit were seemingly deeply weirded out to see Kang and Kodos in a non-Halloween episode. And The A.V. Club’s review called it “a product of such slapdash, breezy disregard for what makes The Simpsons The Simpsons that it functions as a dispiriting signpost to the show’s hastening irrelevance.” 

So we can’t imagine that the upcoming sequel will similarly focus on Kang and Kodos. 

Who knows, maybe The Simpsons Movie 2 will just inadvertently rip-off an unreleased Stephen King novel again.