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With The Simpsons entering their 25th year on the air, creator Matt Groening, executive producer Al Jean, supervising director Mike Anderson, consulting producer David Silverman and actor Tress MacNeille sat in on the panel in front of a packed auditorium.
First up was a special opening sequence directed by Guillermo del Toro, which packed in virtually every horror movie character or scenario in a few minutes along with parodies of several of del Toro's own films. Set you DVR now, since it'll take many viewings to try catching all the jokes.
On the heels of finding out that the Simpsons will appear on Family Guy, the big announcement today is that there will be a Futurama crossover episode of The Simpsons, which was welcome news to attendees. That episode of The Simpsons will record next month and either air as the Season 25 finale next May or the Season 26 premiere fall 2014. Other guest stars for the upcoming season will include Kristen Wiig, Zach Galifianakis, Elisabeth Moss, Stan Lee and Harlan Ellison.
In other news, Groening said that there would also be more crossover between the show and The Simpsons: Tapped Out, while Jean teased a "Holidays of Future Passed" sequel episode where Homer dies so many times he eventually appears as a hologram, and Maggie still doesn't talk. He also mentioned that a "very musical episode" is in the works but couldn't offer any more details yet.
As far as another Simpsons Movie is concerned, Jean said there was "nothing imminent", with Groening saying that everyone's still recovering from pulling double duty for four years on the first one.
A second clip was played from an episode where a mom voiced by Elisabeth Moss names her son Homer Jr., with the footage showing Homer playing with "HJ" and even dreaming of him while bouncing Maggie on his knee (Maggie dreams of Flanders bouncing her on his knee).
In addition to audience questions there were a couple musical numbers. Four performers came out on stage to sing a medley of songs from the show in the middle of the panel and to close things out at the end.
