Fox has released the first trailer for an interesting upcoming episode of The Simpsons which is called“A Serious Flanders.” This is a two-part episode that executive producer Matt Selman describes as a “dark, twisted Fargo story.”
The series was inspired by the TV adaptation of Fargo, and the creative team behind The Simpsons wants to have fun with the idea. Cesar Mazariegos wrote the two-part episode and the guest voice cast includes the likes of Succession star Brian Cox, Cristin Milioti (Fargo), Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood), Chris O’Dowd (Get Shorty), and Jessica Paré (Mad Men).
Part one of the two-part features this logline: “When a ruthless debt collector comes to Springfield, Homer and Ned’s lives are sucked into the artfully violent world of prestige TV.”
Part two description reads: “Uff-da! Things for Ned and Homer go from bad to gosh-darn worse in the stunning conclusion of this SIMPFLIX prestige crime thriller.”
When talking about developing “A Serious Flanders,” Selman said, “We wanted to do all the tricks that these cool streaming shows get to do: Flashbacks, crazy time-jumps, the feeling that anyone might die. It’s all the tricks of the trade, for a semi-pretentious but also very cool kind of story. We have scenes that build tension or make fun of the idea of building tension.”
As for why the episode was split into two episodes Selman said it was necessary to spread the story over the course of two episodes “in order to play with the pace of prestige TV. There’s no way we can do it in one show,” he said. “We wanted the scenes to play out in a different pace, the tone, and stresses. To fit that into one episode, it wouldn’t work. Most Simpsons episodes are paced much more quickly than a streaming drama.”
He went on to explain, “Both half hours are like six episodes of a six-episode series. Stuff happens we won’t stick with, so think of this from a different universe, with a different tone. I think we did a good job of telling an interesting dramatic Flanders story.”
