Boots Riley to Direct Post-Apocalyptic Simpsons Film Adaptation
A new Simpsons film is on the horizon, but Boots Riley’s upcoming adaptation takes the beloved series into uncharted, post-electric territory. Discover how The Simpsons becomes myth in a world without power.
While anticipation builds for the next big-screen outing of Springfield’s most famous family, another project is quietly taking shape that promises to turn the familiar world of yellow-skinned antics on its head. Rather than another round of slapstick and satire, this new film plunges the legacy of the long-running animated series into a world stripped of electricity, where the only surviving fragments of popular culture are echoes of The Simpsons itself.
Boots Riley, the filmmaker behind 'Sorry to Bother You' and the offbeat superhero series 'I'm a Virgo', has confirmed he will be directing this unusual adaptation. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Riley simply stated,
This is a true thing.
His involvement signals a shift in tone, with the project set to explore much darker, more surreal territory than anything previously attempted with the franchise.
From Stage to Screen: A Darker Vision
The source material, 'Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play', first appeared off-Broadway in 2012, penned by Anne Washburn with music by Michael Friedman. The play imagines a future where civilisation has collapsed following the loss of electricity, and a small troupe of survivors attempts to keep the memory of The Simpsons alive by performing episodes for scattered audiences. Their focus? The classic 'Cape Feare' episode, where Sideshow Bob’s vendetta against Bart takes centre stage.
Critical response to the play was enthusiastic, with a five-star review from The Guardian highlighting its inventive approach to storytelling and the persistence of myth. The production was also nominated for a Drama League Award, cementing its reputation as a thought-provoking piece of theatre. The official synopsis asks,
What will endure when the cataclysm arrives—when the grid fails, society crumbles, and we’re faced with the task of rebuilding? Anne Washburn’s imaginative dark comedy is an animated exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another.
Survival, Storytelling, and the Persistence of Culture
At its core, the play—and now the film—examines how stories mutate and survive in the absence of the world that created them. The Simpsons, once a symbol of consumer culture and suburban absurdity, becomes a kind of sacred text for those left behind. The survivors’ attempts to reconstruct episodes from memory reveal how narratives shift, grow, and take on new meanings as they are retold over generations.
Boots Riley’s previous work has often grappled with themes of capitalism and the strange afterlives of cultural artefacts, making him a natural fit for this material. His distinctive style is likely to bring a sharp, satirical edge to the proceedings, while also delving into the more unsettling aspects of a world where the familiar has become strange and ritualised.
The Simpsons: From Satire to Legend
Since its debut in December 1989, Matt Groening’s creation has become a fixture of global pop culture, with countless writers, directors, and performers contributing to its enduring appeal. Yet, in this new adaptation, the show’s legacy is reimagined as something far more primal—a set of stories passed down like folklore, shaped by the needs and fears of those who remember them.
With Riley at the helm, 'Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play' looks set to offer a vision of The Simpsons unlike anything audiences have seen before: not just a comedy, but a meditation on the power of stories to outlast the world that gave them life.