RIP Marcia Wallace

[Titi]

You brought laughter to many generations.

http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/26/marcia...ts-fullwrapper

[MoonCat]

Oh no! Mrs. Crabapple! What will Bart do now? What will Principal Skinner do now??

[fireheart]

Oh no! Mrs. Crabapple! What will Bart do now? What will Principal Skinner do now??

Apparently Mrs. Krabappel will be retired (as far as I'm aware) but she's not the character that'll be killed off later (confirmed in a talk with Al Jean).

[wolfie]

Depending on how far they've gone with production for the season, retiring (rather than killing) Mrs. Crabapple could be a "no brainer" (i.e. don't rewrite footage that's already "in the can"). On the other hand, if they hadn't started the animation yet (i.e. still relatively cheap to change), this would have been a perfect way to deflect fan anger over killing a beloved character. It wouldn't be the first time - Jock Ewing (Jim Davis) in the original Dallas, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) in the remake, and Jack (John Eric Hexum) in Cover Up were all killed after the actor died.

[fireheart]

Depending on how far they've gone with production for the season, retiring (rather than killing) Mrs. Crabapple could be a "no brainer" (i.e. don't rewrite footage that's already "in the can"). On the other hand, if they hadn't started the animation yet (i.e. still relatively cheap to change), this would have been a perfect way to deflect fan anger over killing a beloved character. It wouldn't be the first time - Jock Ewing (Jim Davis) in the original Dallas, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) in the remake, and Jack (John Eric Hexum) in Cover Up were all killed after the actor died.

Given there's something like an 8-month production date for each episode...

Probably what'll happen is one of two things:

1) they'll simply make the character a non-speaking character and/or banish her from the screen entirely. Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure are two main examples (due to Phil hartman's death, these guys were completely retired out of respect). Lunchlady Doris was another one, although they bought her back after several years with a new VA.
2) they'll actually kill her off completely. They already did this with Maude, but more because her voice actor quit for a period of time. In this case, I suspect it'll be unlikely as they already have 2 characters who are going to be killed off or are killed off. (the latter one was announced as being someone with an Emmy-winning VA, but it's NOT Edna-they confirmed that this morning)

[Aethian]

Oh no! Mrs. Crabapple! What will Bart do now? What will Principal Skinner do now??

What will Ned due this is his second wife that has died on him.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

What will Ned due this is his second wife that has died on him.

That's a dilly of a pickle.

[cindybubbles]

But maybe they will just bring on another voice actor and claim in-universe that smoking changed her voice.

[fireheart]

But maybe they will just bring on another voice actor and claim in-universe that smoking changed her voice.

No, they've confirmed that they're going to retire her somehow.