Given how long The Simpsons has been on the air, it's all but inevitable that at least some of its cast and crew will pass away in the meantime.
Original cast
- Dana Hill was originally cast as the voice of school bully Nelson Muntz, but due to her chronic health problems from severe diabetes, she was unable to make the table read. Nancy Cartwright was cast instead and has voiced Nelson ever since, while Hill would succumb to her health problems in 1996.
- Phil Hartman's characters Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure were retired out of respect following his murder in 1998. Lionel Hutz was replaced by Gil Gunderson as the town's incompetent lawyer and Troy McClure disappeared, without so much of a mention as to what could have happened to him (though it can be said that the countless celebrity cameos the show has had since the Mike Scully era could be Troy's replacement for the actor who takes crummy roles just for the money).
- Hartman was originally cast as Disco Stu's voice and had recorded lines for his first episode "Two Bad Neighbors". The animators then requested a model change, but Hartman had died by the time they were finished. Hank Azaria filled in for Hartman and has voiced the character ever since.
- Hartman was supposed to appear as Troy McClure in the "Treehouse Of Horror IX" segment "Hell Toupee" hosting Snake's televised execution, but the writers found that to be in bad taste due to Hartman's recent murder (something not helped by the fact that it would have been Hartman's final performance on the show, and even if Hartman had died by other means replacing Troy still would've been necessary as Hartman had not yet recorded his lines before his untimely death), so they reanimated the scene and hired Ed McMahon as the new host. This means that Troy's usual You Might Remember Me from... speech was reworked into Advertising by Association ("From the producers of When Skirts Fall Off, and Secrets of National Security Revealed...").
- According to
Matt Groening, the producers thought about having Harry Shearer take over the role of Hutz before deciding to retire Hartman's characters.
- Similarly, the show retired Lunchlady Doris for many years due to the death of her voice actress, Doris Grau, in 1995, but since 2006, she's been voiced by Tress MacNeille, unlike Hutz and McClure.
- After Marcia Wallace's passing in 2013, long-running side character Edna Krabappel was retired, with the episode "The Man Who Grew Too Much" all but outright saying that she died offscreen.
- With Russi Taylor's July 2019 passing, many fans feared that her characters Martin Prince, Sherri and Terri Mackleberry, Uter, and Wendell would likely be retired, too. Thankfully, it was confirmed that Grey DeLisle would take over the roles and that they would remain on the show, unlike Krabappel.
Foreign dubs
- In the European Spanish dub, Homer Simpson's beloved original voice actor, Carlos Revilla, passed away after completing Season 11. In Spain, where the show is very well regarded, this is usually pinpointed as the exact moment where the show started to suffer from Seasonal Rot. It's not a vocal issue, as his replacement, Carlos Ysbert, really sounds enough like Revilla that an unknowing person would probably not be able to tell the difference. The problem is that Revilla was also the dub's director, famous for introducing a lot of Woolseyisms and clever adaptations of jokes. The common consensus is that the dub's quality suffered after his passing. Due to the show's Long-Runner status, this has happened with a number of other characters (twice in Grandpa Simpson's case), though none with as much significance.
- In the European French dub, Michel Modo (the first voice of Mr. Burns, Krusty, Chief Wiggum, Principal Skinner, and many other characters) died of cancer in 2008, during the dub of Season 19. He was replaced by Gérard Rinaldi until his death in March 2012, after season 22. Rinaldi was then replaced by Xavier Fagnon.
- In the German dub:
- Marge's voice actress, Elisabeth Volkmann, died in the middle of season 17. She was replaced by Anke Engelke, who doesn't try to imitate Volkmann's performance, but Julie Kavner's.
- Homer's voice actor, Norbert Gastell, died in November 2015. He is now voiced by Christoph Jablonka.
- Mr. Burns was voiced by Reinhard Brock, but after Brock's death, he was voiced by Kai Taschner.
- Abraham Simpson has had four different German voice actors. The first died after season 8, the second died after season 10, and the third died after season 15.
- In the Hungarian dub, József Székhelyi (Homer) passed away during season 29. He was replaced by János Háda.
- In the Russian dub, Homer's voice actor for the first eight seasons, Alexandr Ryzhkov, died on April 16, 2009. Since Season 9, he's been voiced by Boris Bystrov, who also happens to be the real-life husband of Marge's voice actress Irina Savina.
- In the Mexican Spanish dub...
- This happened twice with Chief Wiggum. His first voice, Eduardo Borja, died on April 11, 2000, and was replaced with Jorge Roldán, who himself died on June 17, 2020 and was replaced afterwards.
- Carlos Petrel, the original voice of Abe Simpson, died from natural causes on September 17, 2000. His character had to be recast.
- The second and longest voice of Kent Brockman, Gonzalo Curiel, died on March 29, 2020 and had to be replaced with Víctor Manuel Espinoza, the voice of Homer back then, whom had already replaced Curiel in some episodes.
- Herman López, the longest voice of Otto, died on December 19, 2021 after recording the 32nd season.
