By Jeremy Dick
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Another classic character from The Simpsons was recently killed off in the Season 36 episode, "The Yellow Lotus." As a spoof of HBO's The White Lotus, the episode needed to kill off a Simpsons character, so the show's producers chose someone who hadn't been seen on the animated series in nearly three decades.
The episode brings back Nick Callahan, a realtor who was first introduced in the Season 9 episode, "Realty Bites," in 1997. Though memorable for fans of classic Simpsons, the character is very minor, as he hasn't made any additional appearances in the 27 years since the episode aired. In "The Yellow Lotus," Nick finally returned to the series just to get killed off in the same episode. Speaking about the character's fate in an interview with Screen Rant, producer and writer Al Jean explains why Nick was the one who was chosen.
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"We, this past week after the premiere, killed off Nick the Realtor from Season 9 in 'The Yellow Lotus,' a White Lotus parody," Jean commented about the episode. "It’s kind of convenient because you have this thing like The White Lotus where you know someone's going to die, but it's not going to be Dr. Hibbert, and it's not going to be Sideshow Bob. So, it is a character — that guy Nick — but it's also somebody that's okay to lose because he hasn't been on the show for 27 years."
...it's also somebody that's okay to lose because he hasn't been on the show for 27 years.
The Simpsons has killed off many notable characters since its debut on Fox in 1989. In Season 35, the series wrote out Larry the Barfly, a background character who'd been consistently seen in Moe's bar since the first season of the show. In years past, the death of Maude Flanders was among the most memorable, while other killed off characters include Lisa's mentor "Bleeding Gums" Murphy; Homer's mother Mona Simpson; Krusty's father Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky; and family therapist Dr. Marvin Monroe. After the real-life passing of voice actor Marcia Wallace in 2013, her Edna Krabappel character was also given an off-screen death.
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The "Realty Bites," episode, which introduced the newly-killed-off character Nick Callahan, also happened to feature the final appearance of Phil Hartman's Lionel Hutz. Hartman, who voiced Hutz along with washed-up actor Troy McClure, was murdered five months after the episode aired. Both Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure have since had occasional appearances in the background, so the characters were not completely written out of the series.
The Simpsons Recently Returned for Season 36
The Simpsons is currently two episodes into its 36th season on Fox. The Season 36 premiere episode, framed as a "series finale," also made some waves with some major cameo appearances. This includes Danny DeVitro reprising his voice role as Homer's brother, Herb Powell. The "real" Seymour Skinner from the controversial Season 9 episode "The Principal and the Pauper" also made a brief appearance.
New episodes of The Simpsons are streaming on Hulu.
Source: Screen Rant
The Simpsons
TV-14
Animation
Comedy
The satiric adventures of a working-class family in the misfit city of Springfield.
- Release Date
- December 17, 1989
- Cast
- Dan Castellaneta , Nancy Cartwright , Harry Shearer , Yeardley Smith , Julie Kavner , Hank Azaria , Pamela Hayden , Tress MacNeille
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 36
- Creator
- James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Sam Simon
- Production Company
- Gracie Films, 20th Television Animation, Fox Television Animation, The Curiosity Company
- Number of Episodes
- 761
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu