Everything’s not coming up Milhouse, it seems. Pamela Hayden, who has voiced iconic Simpsons characters including Milhouse and Jimbo Jones, is retiring from the show after 35 years.
Milhouse isn't retiring, lol, the actress that voices his is, they're gonna recast for the Milhouse voice. Lady made 25 million dollars voicing Simpsons characters in the last 35 years, she's done fine she's old now, and want to do other things
It is sad to me. The Simpsons is never going to get a definitive, dignified ending where it goes out on a high. It is just going to keep going on and on, slowly losing original bits and pieces. Swapping out a long time voice actor because the show has been going on so long that they aged out and retired is pretty depressing.
It's an interesting question. Some characters are quietly retired (Phil Hartman's), while others are killed off in-series (Krabapple). Eventually all of the original cast will age out or pass away. Will they continue Ship of Theseus style by replacing people?
Retiring the entire show seems to be impossible, although I'd argue that it should have been done 15 years ago.
The show’s in its 35th year, I think we’re going to start seeing more of this. Anyone that was 30 when the show started is coming up on eligibility for Social Security and Medicare. I’m curious how long the core cast will stay active, and if the show attempts to recast or finally calls it quits when one or more of them step down.
I don’t think any of the original Sesame Street muppetiers are still working, for instance, but Big Bird and Elmo are still going strong.
Harry Shearer feels like he should be the next to retire given that he's 80 and has been a stick in the mud for years now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is still voicing characters until he no longer is able to or Disney decides it's cheaper to replace the actors.