Read

The simplest and most likely answer is that The Simpsons (1989) will never fully be able to replace the man behind the voices of beloved characters Ned Flanders, C. Montgomery Burns, Waylon Smithers, and Seymour Skinner. Harry Shearer has had twenty six years to develop the nooks and crannies of each character and probably knows them better than some of the writers. But fear not loyal viewer as these characters will not be killed off or retired to the background like Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz, and Edna Krabappel after the tragic deaths of Phil Hartman and Marcia Wallace. The Simpson’s producer, Al Jean, says that “Yes, Burns and Flanders will not die. They are great characters and will continue,” so the next person providing the voices of some of Springfield’s most important non-Simpson family characters will have their work cut out for them.

Maybe Harry Shearer is irreplaceable as Al Jean has stated that The Simpsons will look to replace these characters with the most talented actors in the voice over community. A strategy like this would allow the voice actors to focus on one character instead of overextending themselves, allowing an actor to fully explore a character that Shearer helped create. Not to mention simple economics that since Harry Shearer was commanding, along with the rest of the cast, a $300,000 salary per episode, several replacement voices will most likely not add up to the sum.

Harry Shearer has obtained the reputation of “being difficult to work with” over the years but some of this derives from his role as a bit of an iconoclast. He is fiercely protective of his characters as he was the main objector to the “Principal and the Pauper” real Seymour Skinner fiasco. He also has criticized the show for declining quality as far back as Season 14 and threatened to leave the show numerous times during contract disputes. Shearer was also the only major cast member not to lend his voice to the Simpson’s ride at Universal. The official word from Shearer is that he wanted the time and freedom to do other projects which apparently the show was cutting into. The word from the Simpson’s camp is that they offered him the same deal as the other cast members and he turned it down. Al Jean says they offered him the chance to record his lines from over the phone but he still turned it down. James L. Brooks says they are still trying to negotiate a deal and that all hope isn’t lost; however, it’s looking pretty likely that the voice of Ned Flanders will sounds more like this next season: