THE SIMPSONS bosses made a shock move in the latest series of the long-running cartoon by bringing back a long forgotten character – but with an unexpected twist.
Sunday night’s episode (October 6), titled The Yellow Lotus, featured a flashback to Marge and Homer’s life long before the series began. It was made even more interesting by the character’s surprise return.
Long-time fans of The Simpsons might remember dodgy salesman Nick Callahan (voiced by Hank Azaria) from the 1997 episode Reality Bites.
He quietly returned to the show after a 27 years absence in The Yellow Lotus, which aired on Sunday evening in the U.S. The episode follows the fan-favourite cartoon family as they take a rare holiday to the luxury resort Drooping Dandelions to cash in on their 10-year timeshare.
The episode also cuts to a flashback scene, revealing how Homer and Marge first met Nick at that very resort.
Marge, who was pregnant with Bart at the time, and Homer, are holidaying at the luxury resort and tricked into buying a timeshare on the island by Nick. All it takes is a free boombox to convince Homer this is a great idea.
Meanwhile, in the present, the Simpson family run into Nick, who is still up to his old tricks and dodgy dealings.
Marge berates him for scamming them into buying the timeshare just moments before they are kicked out of the resort and Nick is shockingly killed off after being attacked by a drug-addled sea otter while snorkelling.
Nick first appeared in The Simpsons in the season nine episode Realty Bites when Marge joined the Red Blazer Realty Bites, working alongside Gil Gunderson, Cookie Kwan, and Nick.
But the recent flashback reveals that Marge met Nicki long before working with him.
This, of course, throws the continuity of the show slightly off kilter and Marge doesn’t recognise Nick when she meets him in Reality Bites – nevertheless, the episode provides a fun way to conclude the character’s storyline.
Fans were shocked and delighted to see Hank’s character back on screens in this week’s episode, calling his appearance “unbelievable” on X.
Another fan sent out a tweet to The Simpsons writer Al Jean asking whose idea it was to bring back Nick after 27 years. He simply responded “Loni,” referring to producer Loni Steele Sosthand.
But The Yellow Lotus has more than one shock return in store for fans. The episode also brought back Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob, who, after bumping into the Simpsons, reveals he is now worth a fortune after inventing a rake with a collapsible handle to “avoid head bonks” – a callback to the series 5 episode Cape Feare where this happens.
The latest series (Series 35) of The Simpsons has been full of memorable moments, including the notable series premiere which marked a major milestone for the eternal 10-year-old Bart, who finally turned 11.
Series 35 is currently airing weekly in the U.S. on Fox and is expected to air on Channel 4 and Disney+ later this year for viewers in the U.K. Fans can catch up on series 1 to 34 on Disney+ now.
