797 Episodes Later, The Simpsons Reveals Beatrice Bouvier, Marge’s Secret Aunt

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The latest episode of The Simpsons has added a fresh member to the family’s clan: the previously-secret Beatrice Bouvier, who is revealed to be Marge’s estranged aunt.

Sashes to Sashes, the seventh episode of the show’s 37th season, sees the rest of the Simpsons family discover how a four-year-old Marge fell out with her aunt after being told there was no such thing as princesses or love. Ever since, Marge has refused to speak with or acknowledge Beatrice’s existence — until the truth is accidentally revealed.

As the episode continues, viewers discover that Beatrice (voiced by Carrie Coon) had been acting harshly after having her heart broken — by none other than Springfield mayor Joe Quimby, to whom she had been briefly married.

In a series of flashbacks, Beatrice and Joe are shown to have fallen in love and married, until the future-mayor’s father instructs his son that he must be seen entertaining mistresses in public, in order to appear powerful. Joe tells Beatrice he won’t follow his father’s wishes, but Beatrice leaves him anyway.

The episode’s finale sees Marge and Beatrice heal the rift between them, though it’s unclear whether the aunt will ever appear in The Simpsons again. Indeed, the show could simply forget about the character completely — since, according to its creators, the series does not actually have any canon.

“There is no canon,” The Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman said back in June after viewers were left aghast by a flashforward that showed Marge had died. “The Simpsons doesn’t even have canon!” Several episodes have noted the (permanent) death of other characters before but, 37 seasons in, viewers have noted that it’s begun hard to accept the series’ floating timeline still makes sense.

“Marge will probably never be dead ever again,” Selman concluded. “The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago.”

In other The Simpsons news, the franchise’s big Fortnite collaboration will continue this week (see the trailer above) as the game’s version of Springfield experiences another big change. After raining donuts, the live-service will soon experience crowds of zombie-like Homers, as the character once again attempts to play around with reality. (It’s probably safe to say that all this action isn’t canon either.)

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social