The Mystery of Which Simpsons Character Will Be Killed: Solved?

The mystery of which character will be killed during the next season of The Simpsons may be solved. If you recall previous hints from show producer Al Jean, “The character that dies is portrayed by an actor who won an Emmy for playing that character.” This means it could be Anne Hathaway’s Princess Penelope, Jackie Mason’s Rabbi Krustofski, Kelsey Grammar’s Sideshow Bob, and a number of characters from Dan Castellaneta and Hank Azaria.

Azaria confirmed his characters are safe, and Al Jean reported that Hathaway and Grammar’s characters are safe. That would narrow the list to (if we are only including the characters mentioned in Castellaneta’s Emmy nomination sequence): Abe Simpson, Groundskeeper Willie, Barney Gumble, Sideshow Mel, and Krusty the Clown, in addition to Rabbi Krustofski (Jackie Mason.)

We were also told the character would die in the season premiere, which Al Jean recently announced on Twitter will be titled: “Clown in the Dumps.”

With the name being an obvious play on the phrase “down in the dumps,” I feel like we’re not jumping to any wild conclusions by assuming Krusty would be a “clown in the dumps” if his father died.

I can’t do a pretty fair Columbo impression like Homer, but I think this case could be closed.