Some exxxcellent news for fans of The Simpsons, as Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Smithers will return to the show with their original voices.
[toggler title=”TL;DR” ]Harry Shearer rejoins the cast of The Simpsons, shortly after he left the show over a contract dispute.[/toggler]
[dropcap size=small]J[/dropcap]ust eight weeks after he announced his departure from the show, Harry Shearer has agreed to rejoin The Simpsons. Entertainment Weekly suggests that Shearer, who also plays Lenny, Dr. Hibbert and Otto on the never-ending animated comedy, has signed the same contract as Dan Castellaneta, Yeardley Smith, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and Hank Azaria, which means the entire original cast will remain intact for at least four more seasons for a small sum of $300,000 each per episode.
Shearer reportedly quit the show to free up his schedule, which asked more questions than it answered. Speaking to EW, executive producer Al Jean said, ‘Everybody on the show does lots of outside projects. He actually gets to record on the phone and do the reads on the phone. So we’ve never kept him from doing that stuff.’ James L. Brooks, another executive producer, tried to reach out to Shearer over Twitter in an attempt to clear up any confusion (‘Hey, we tried. We’re still trying. Harry, let’s talk’), and apparently it worked, because two weeks later, Shearer replied to a Simpsons fan, tweeting, ‘Discussions are happening at a level where decisions can be made.’
Discussions obviously went well, as Shearer will return to the show in time for season 27, which premieres in September.
