The Simpsons has permanently written out one of its longest-serving background characters, with producers confirming that church organist Alice Glick will not return after her death in a new episode from the show’s 37th season. The character, who first appeared in 1991 and has been part of Springfield’s supporting cast for more than three decades, dies suddenly in the episode “Sashes to Sashes”, which aired in the United States on 16 November 2025.
In the episode, set largely around a student council race at Springfield Elementary and a parallel look back at the Quimby political dynasty, Alice is seen at the First Church of Springfield playing the organ during one of Reverend Lovejoy’s sermons. As the congregation listens, she slumps forward onto the keys and the music crashes into a discordant chord, signalling that the elderly musician has died mid-service. The moment is brief and not heavily foreshadowed, but it is treated within the story as a genuine death rather than one of the show’s frequent throwaway gags.
Later in the episode, the impact of Alice’s death becomes clear when Springfield Elementary learns that she has left her estate to the school. The money is earmarked for a new music programme, becoming a central plot point as Lisa Simpson and Joe Quimby III clash over how the unexpected windfall should be spent and which students should benefit from it. That storyline ties Alice’s passing to one of the series’ recurring themes, the precarious state of arts education in public schools, while also underlining how a background character can influence the town’s future.
Outside the fictional world of Springfield, producers have moved to make clear that this death is different from the many fake-outs and reversals that have become part of the programme’s loose approach to continuity. Co-executive producer Tim Long has stated that Alice is “dead as a doornail” and described her as “dead as a doornail” while adding that the character will “live forever” through her music. These remarks were made in interviews discussing the episode and were intended to draw a line under any suggestion that she might reappear in future seasons as if nothing had happened, a device the show has used with other characters over the years.