Emma Thompson Opens 'The Simpsons' Season 38 on Sept. 27

Emma Thompson joins "The Simpsons" as a saucy, hard-drinking British children's book author when Season 38 premieres Sunday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. on Fox, streaming the next day on Hulu.

The premiere, titled "The Children's Book Job," parodies the world of children's literature. Thompson plays Constance Clavinger, a beloved author who arrives in Springfield for a benefit to save Springfield Elementary from closing. Homer botches the airport pickup — Clavinger gets drunk at the airport bar — and must drag her, "Get Him to the Greek" style, across town to a book fair organized by new PTA president Marge.

Colin Jost also appears as himself, reading his own children's book to the Springfield Elementary students, who respond with indifference.

In one sequence, Homer daydreams Springfield transformed into settings and characters from classic children's books: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," Richard Scarry's universe, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," "Captain Underpants" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." Executive producer Matt Selman calls the episode a "love letter" to that world.

"The genesis of this was, when you're lucky enough to work on 'The Simpsons,' you can ask yourself, 'What kind of cool thing can we portray in the Matt Groening/'Simpsons' style that we've never done?'" Selman says. "And one of those are classic children's books, like 'Make Way for Ducklings.'"

Selman adds: "Richard Scarry, Eric Carle from 'The Hungry Caterpillar,' all these generational children's artists. We got really excited about that."

Dan Vebber wrote the episode and Matthew Nastuk directed it. Vebber and co-executive producer Mike Price developed the story, which Selman describes as "a take on the 'mild-mannered person has to get crazy person from 'Point A' to Point B' kind of story … Two people thrown together in crazy situations become friends, become enemies and then become friends again. I love a good '80s movie structure. So, for all the people who still love 'Get Him to the Greek,' this is the episode for you!"

Thompson, Selman says, "threw herself into it with full gusto." "If you're going to write a giant guest part, you want an icon, a bucket list person like Emma Thompson," he says.

The episode also carries a parenting theme. Homer, who has been neglecting his family for a free phone game, decides to save the day. "It makes a lot of great points about parenting and trying not to be a checked-out parent," Selman says. He cites a line he likes: Homer says, "children's books are a better parent than I'll ever be."

Later episodes include "Diary of a Chimpy Kid" (Oct. 4), in which Bart and Lisa adopt a baby chimp that terrifies Homer after he watches a YouTube video about what adult chimps do to their owners. "There's some genital mutilation comedy in that one, but I am very pleased with it!" Selman says. "The Kosmic Kruiser" traps Bart and Lisa in an abandoned immersive theme park, and "Testing 1-2-3" takes on neurodiversity. "We're very proud of it," Selman says.

"Treehouse of Horror XXXVII" arrives Oct. 25 with an opening that mashes up "The Simpsons" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas," produced by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios. One segment adapts Holly Gramazio's British novel "The Husbands," in which Homer emerges from the shed as a different husband for Marge — suddenly she is married to Lenny, or to Kang and Kodos. Tiffany Haddish guests as Marge's best friend in one reality, delivering a lecture on dating that is "like a stand-up set," Selman says.

Another segment is "Freaky Friday" meets "Pet Sematary," in which Homer accidentally kills Bart and the dog, buries them, and they return with their bodies switched. In the third, teenage versions of Bart and Lisa discover that evil witch versions of Patty and Selma have trapped the vanished Homer in endless murderous Driver's Ed films.

The Halloween special is timed to a tie-in with Jack in the Box, which is selling a "Munchie Meal of Horror" featuring six collectible glow-in-the-dark cups. They sold out almost immediately and now trade on eBay for around $200.

"Like everything we do, they sold out in one second," Selman says. "I said, 'make sure you make enough cups!' And they said, 'we know about how many cups to make.' And guess what? They didn't!"

The cups and meal boxes are packed with references, including Bart's Season 8 twin brother Hugo eating the Jack in the Box fish sandwich. "It's just very fun to do a 30-year fish callback," Selman says. Comical gravestones on the box honor dead "Simpsons" characters like Frank Grimes. "I bet he didn't think he'd ever be on a Munchie Meal box, right?" Selman says.

The deepest Easter egg: several "Simpsons" bullies are dressed as the obscure 1970s-era "Jack in the Box Bunch" — the "Hamburgermeister," "Onion Ring Thing" and "Secret Sauce Agent," mascots eliminated in 1980. "I haven't gone on the internet to see if anyone has figured this out!" Selman says. "But that is a big mashup."

Selman admits he "procrastinated from working on the stuff that I should be working on by working really hard on this box. There are so many 'Simpsons' Easter eggs on this box that you would think it was Easter, not Halloween. You can quote me on that. Definitely quote me on that."

The new "Simpsons" movie is now slated for Sept. 3, 2027, shifted from its original July 23 date. It is already written and may have a title — Selman will not share it. "The working title is 'New Simpsons Movie,' but we might have an actual title," he says. "It hasn't been approved yet. But [the movie] is going to be great! It's already 'S' tier."

By "S tier," Selman means the top of the internet's A-through-F ranking system. "People will rank things between F-D-C-B-A, and then S is the best," he says. "So, the movie's going to be S tier. That's my promise to you."