New Disney-Exclusive ‘Simpsons’ Content Shows That Streaming Specials Are the Future of Legacy Adult Animation

In December, Disney+ will become the exclusive home of this year’s Simpsons holiday special, showing that the “evil corporation” is evil enough to steal Christmas from the non-subscribers of the Simpsons fandom.

While many Disney originals have struggled to gain much traction on the media mega-company’s flagship streaming service, The Simpsons continues to dominate Disney+ viewership metrics where it is currently the third most watched series on the platform by daily viewers. On top of that, back at the beginning of 2023, The Simpsons was still the single most popular streaming title in Disney+ history, even beating out massive IP hits like The Mandalorian and WandaVision on its way to becoming the all-time #1 Disney+ show. 

With the continued popularity of The Simpsons in mind, Disney has decided to change course on its Simpsons strategy as it prepare to make Disney+ the exclusive home of four special Simpsons episodes to premiere this December.

This past weekend, Disney’s annual D23 summit mapped out the next 12 months of mass-produced Disney content, an umbrella that’s covered The Simpsons ever since Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019. Included in the Disney+ roadmap is a two-part Christmas special from The Simpsons, titled “O C’mon All Ye Faithful,” which will compete with Hulu’s Family Guy Christmas special and the twice-annual South Park features on Paramount+ for the title of “Best Streaming-Exclusive Special From A Series That Very Well Could Have Ended in the ‘90s.”

Disney will release its first original Simpsons Christmas special on the 35th anniversary of the very first Simpsons holiday episode (also the very first Simpsons episode ever) “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” which hit the airwaves on December 17, 1989. Even before Disney’s festive Simpsons special hits streaming, Disney+ will debut a Halloween-themed Simpsons short that will be separate from the usual “Treehouse of Horror” tradition, which will remain on Fox for at least the duration of its current contract with The Simpsons. 

And, in addition to the festive specials, Disney executives revealed that two more Simpsons episodes will be Disney+ exclusives, titled “The Past and the Furious” and “Yellow Planet,” to debut “in the months ahead.”

It’s worth noting that, though neither Simpsons producers nor Fox executives have yet to give any indication that the longest-running animated series in American TV history is close to the end of its tenure on the broadcast network, The Simpsons is set to start its 36th season without a renewal deal in place to ensure its future on Fox past 2025. While it's hard to imagine The Simpsons going the way of Groening’s oft-canceled Futurama and migrating entirely to streaming, Disney’s investment in original Simpsons content coincides with a moment of relative instability in the show’s 35-year-long run on traditional television.

Streaming platforms clearly value established adult animation properties such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park for their immense legacy library filled with classic episodes worth many re-watches, but as the power players in the streaming industry ramp up the arms race for original content from these classic shows, long-time fans may want to prepare themselves for a future in which a basic cable subscription doesn’t guarantee access to the shows that made channels like Fox and Comedy Central worth watching in the first place.