Variety reports that, “the rest of the Simpsons voice cast recently signed two-year extensions, logging on for seasons 27 and 28, with Shearer being the only one holding out.” Season 27 has already begun production without him.
Shearer said on Twitter that he left because he “wanted what we’ve always had: the freedom to do other work.”
His other work has included playing Richard Nixon in “Nixon’s the One,” and various reunion appearances as Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap—most recently for the 25th anniversary of the film in 2009.
The last major voice actors the show lost were Phil Hartman, whose characters were retired after he was killed by his wife in 1998, and Marcia Wallace, who played Edna Krabappel and passed away in 2013. Hartman’s final season, season 10, is considered by some to be the end of the Simpsons’ golden age and the beginning of a long decline that’s still being dragged out nearly 20 years later.
It’s not yet clear whether Shearer’s characters will be written out of the show entirely, or whether they’ll be recast.
Harry Shearer, Voice of Burns, Flanders, and Skinner, Leaves Simpsons
Originally Posted by Donisia
