What do Gossip Girl, Anna from Frozen, and Marge Simpson all have in common? Well, in a few months the answer will be “Kristen Bell has voiced each of them,” something revealed in a Comic-Con@Home panel today for The Simpsons. Specifically, Bell is set to provide a singing voice for America’s favorite annoyed murmurer in the show’s 33rd season premiere, which is set to be another big Simpsons musical spectacular. (Ah, to relive the heady days of “The President Wore Pearls.”)
During the panel, EP Matt Selman called upcoming premiere “The Star Of Backstage” “the most musical episode we’ve ever done,” comparing it to the likes of big Broadway spectaculars. Bell has apparently been tasked with giving Marge a little Broadway pizzazz of her own when she sings, stepping in for regular voice actor Julie Kavner—who, we can’t help but note, was certainly good enough for our well-worn cassette tape of The Simpsons Sing The Blues, but so it goes.
Other reveals from the panel (before it devolved, like so many online video calls do, into some fairly tepid games) include the fact that this year’s “Treehouse Of Horror” episode will forego the usual three-part structure in favor of five snippets of life-giving horror content instead. (Al Jean also showed off one of the segments, a clearly-ready-for-YouTube homage to the works of Edward Gorey.) Oh, and Yeardley Smith revealed that her deepest dream is for an episode where Lisa Simpsons befriends The Rock—only to be told by the show’s writers that it’s an idea they’ve floated, dependent on Dwayne Johnson ever agreeing to do the show. (Honestly: We’d kind of like to see Lisa Simpson be friends with The Rock.) Jean also teased an episode that “explores the greatest tragedy Homer has ever faced,” which probably just means an explosion down at the Duff factory, but it’d be pretty funny if this was Jean’s way of finally importing ages-old internet meme “Dead Bart” into the Simpsons canon.
Season 33 of The Simpsons debuts on Fox on September 26.