Someone's Gonna Die On 'The Simpsons'

If you've watched The Simpsons sometime in the last few centuries since it premiered, you've probably grasped by now that there's not much moving forward going on with the residents of Springfield. That's not stopping the producers, though, from announcing that The Simpsons is killing off an iconic character. Or from teasing us over who it might be.

All producers have said at this point is this: Someone's biting the dust, and that someone is voiced by an actor/actress who won an Emmy for the part. With that in mind, let's break it down on who this could be.

The Candidates:

• Anne Hathaway's Princess Penelope
• Julie Kavner's Jaqueline
• Kelsey Grammer's Sideshow Bob
• Dan Castellaneta's Homer, Grandpa, Groundskeeper Willie, Krusty the Clown, etc, etc, etc.
• Hank Azaria's Apu, Cletus Spuckler, Moe Szlyslak, etc, etc, etc .

The Chances:

Princess Penelope (Hathaway): She's voiced by Anne Hathaway, and while The Simpsons can often still pull in all sorts of super-famous people for cameos, they probably won't want to cut off their access to her. She's also not exactly "iconic" yet.

Jaqueline (Kavner): The character is Marge's mom, so it would certainly make for an interesting episode. Plus, choosing a character who would die of old age would make sense... but not on a show that killed its last character by way of t-shirt gun.

Sideshow Bob (Grammer): As he is a killer (or at least tries very hard to be), so it is likely he'll find himself in danger. We'd argue he also is definitely one of the most memorable characters of the show's history, so he fits the iconic bill.

Homer (Castellaneta): Haha, there is no way. Just literally no way, unless they bring him right back to life.

Grandpa (Castellaneta): He's pretty old, it could happen.

Groundskeeper Willie/Krusty the Clown/Etc (Castellaneta): Castellaneta plays literally dozens of characters in the show, and any of the more "iconic" of them, with the exception of Homer himself, could bite the dust. Groundskeeper Willie and Krusty the Clown seem among the more likely.

Apu (Azaria): Definitely iconic, but might draw negative attention for the show if it kills off one of their more well-known characters of color — even if that character of color is already an Indian stereotype.

Cletus Spuckler/Moe Slyzeck/Etc (Azaria): Among Azaria's other characters we'd put our money most on Moe; They've all been around a very long while, but Moe's been around the block as Homer's bartender. Maybe it'll be some alcohol-related incident? Or Amanda Hugginkiss will finally rear her head as a cold-blooded murderer?

Honestly, it could be anyone. When you've been around as long as The Simpsons and your characters don't age or change all that much, you tend to accumulate a whole lot of characters. I guess it just depends now on in what kind of spectacular fashion the creative team has planned for the character to die, and on which one they're willing to live without for a little while.