The Simpsons wrapped its 37th season this spring and returns to Fox next month as the longest-running primetime scripted series in American television history. All that TV success led to the 2007 Simpsons Movie, which grossed more than half a billion dollars worldwide, but a second trip to theaters has taken a very long time; for years, a sequel was discussed, with nothing materializing at the studio.
Disney finally ended the wait last year with a doughnut-themed announcement and the tagline “Homer’s coming back for seconds,” but a date and a poster only go so far. At the 2026 D23 in Anaheim, attendees finally saw footage from the sequel, offering the first real look at the film itself while revealing a deep bench of returning Springfield regulars. Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden presented the film during its Entertainment Showcase, joined by a video message from Bart Simpson, and confirmed that the sequel has dropped its Simpsons Movie 2 working title in favor of The New Simpsons Movie.
Disney also confirmed a Sept. 3, 2027 release date after moving the film out of its original July slot late last year. The footage shown was essentially a colored animatic with temp music, featuring themes from The Natural and Speed that pointed to the presentation’s sports parody and action-heavy tone. The footage centers on a chase, with Homer in the stands at an Isotopes game with Lenny, Carl, and Kirk Van Houten, chanting “make me rich, make Homer rich” as a home run ball sails his way.
He muffs the catch, naturally, and the ball takes off on a tour of Springfield with an ever-growing mob behind it. It ricochets off Hans Moleman, passes through Grampa, then tears through stadium bathrooms and luxury suites. From there, it zips past the Squeaky-Voiced Teen in a nacho-cheese gag, barrels into Moe’s Tavern where the pickled eggs are briefly mistaken for it, then keeps going through the bowling alley and an emergency room before finally dropping into a vat at the Duff brewery. Homer is launched out of a smokestack for his trouble and lands back at the stadium, where the ball rolls neatly to Bart.
So how many Simpsons characters do we see in the trailer? The family accounts for five, with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, and Grampa Abe makes six. The chase adds Lenny, Carl, and Kirk, while the tour of Springfield brings in Moe, Hans Moleman, the Squeaky-Voiced Teen, and traffic reporter Arnie Pye in his chopper. Eagle-eyed viewers have spotted longtime Moe’s barfly Larry Dalrymple, apparently present in urn form, a morbid continuity nod given the show killed him off a couple of seasons back. We also may have spotted Nelson’s deadbeat dad in the tavern. That’s 15 classic characters in a single rough sequence, with a couple of notable absences worth flagging. Some fans from Reddit initially saw the large tavern patron as Barney, though that actually seems to be Nelson’s father, and Kent Brockman is nowhere to be seen despite his usual sparring partner Arnie being airborne. This may have been the smartest way for the sequel to introduce itself.
The first film got some of its biggest laughs from escalation and town-wide chaos. For now, the sequel has a title and 15 familiar faces already on screen. The people behind the film have been fairly candid about why it took so long. At the Annecy Animation Festival in June 2025, Simpsons creator Matt Groening said, “The first movie killed us,” referring to the strain of making a feature while the show kept airing. There was one other tease at D23. Asked about the cult-favorite 2003 game The Simpsons: Hit & Run, Groening said, “I think the original game is coming back in some form,” before show runner Matt Selma quickly cut in with, “or not” (via Empire).
