In the closing credits a headstone indicated that Ralph, the lovable oddball son of Police Chief Wiggum, had died in 2017.
Is it true?
"No, (it was) just a random joke," the show's executive producer Al Jean told The Hollywood Reporter.
"In a previous future show, we saw Ralph as a police chief with multiple clones each being killed.
"Some have interpreted 2017 as the last year of the show, which is possible but I doubt it."
Jean has previously said he was surprised by the attention his show got after he mentioned that a "beloved" character voiced by an Emmy winner would be killed off.
After a year of hints and speculation, a yellow-coloured Grim Reaper finally descended on Springfield in September during the premiere episode of season 26.
There were fears Homer may have seen his last days, as well as other favourites such as Chief Wiggum, Apu, Moe and Krusty the Clown.
But fans were underwhelmed to discover it was the not-all-that-familiar character of Krusty's father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, who met his maker.
"I was doing an interview where they asked what episodes we had coming up and I said, 'Well, a character dies and the actor who played the character won an Emmy for that portrait,' and that turned into this huge puzzle," Jean said of the anti-climax.
Watch a clip from The Simpsons, Futurama cross-over Simpsorama:
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- AAP
