The Simpsons quietly brings back forgotten character – 27 years after last appearance
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.
The Simpsons Most Memorable Episodes
- Season 1, Episode 1 (December 1989) – Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire – the programme kicked off with its very own Christmas special and has gone down in The Simspson history books. In the episode, fans met the clan and sees Bart decide to get a tattoo underage without his parents permission. Marge is then forced to use all the family’s Xmas money on having it removed. Meanwhile, as Homes learns he won’t get a Xmas bonus, he is forced to take a job as a shopping mall Santa.
- Season 4, Episode 12 (January 1993) – Marge vx The Monorail – In this episode, the residents of Springfield are scammed into believing they will be getting an epic monorail built to take them across the town. It is only Marge and Lisa that are able to not get swept up in the Monorail Mania. The episode is also loved for introducing fans to the Monorail song.
- Season 6, Episode 25 (May 1995) – Who Shot Mr. Burns Part One – Fans of the show were left surprised when it aired a rare cliffhanger at the end of its sixth season as fans were left wondering who shot the Power Plant owner. Fans were truly left wondering whodunnit.
- Season 12, Episode 4 (February 2001) – New Kids on the Bleech – This New Kids on the Block based episode had fans singing along all night long. Bart and his pals were recruited to make a boyband supergroup but Lisa quickly realised their hit song was packed with subliminal messeges. Titled Party Posse, their breakout hit was Drop Da Bomb but the chorus’ lyrics Yvan Eht Nioj was quickly uncovered as reading Join The Navy backwards.
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.