Are Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Otto Leaving Springfield?

Tattoo Gallery Follows The Text

In a piece of news that will surely break hearts in Springfield and beyond, Harry Shearer has announced that he will be leaving The Simpsons before its 27th season. Shearer has been a part of the show since its inception and while he doesn’t provide any of the voices of the titular family he is responsible for some of the most beloved characters on the show.

Shearer is both sides of the greatest untold love story of all—Mr. Burns and Smithers. In a few other major duos of the show Shearer only plays one half; Lenny, Kang and Scratchy are all his. What are Carl, Kodos and Itchy going to do without their soul mates? The answer is simple, they’re going to move on seamlessly.

It has been reported that none of the characters voiced by Shearer are going to die, or move, or simply fade away. Instead, they will be voiced by a different actor yet to be determined, according to The Washington Post. It’s a good thing too, because the list of characters played by the Spinal Tap actor is extensive. In addition to the ones that we have already named Shearer also voiced damn near half of the show. Otto, Rev. Lovejoy, Principal Skinner, Jasper (a personal favorite), Dr. Hibbert, Ranier Wolfcastle, Jebediah Springfield and many others were brought to life by the cromulent voice of Shearer.

It’ll be interesting to see if the people at Fox change their mind and back up a huge truck full of money in Shearer’s driveway to convince him not to leave. We can always hope. But in the meantime, enjoy this gallery of tattoos featuring some of our favorite characters voiced by Shearer.