The Simpsons have long been locked into a specific time period. Thanks to the animated structure of the show, the characters have never had to grow older. Despite this, there have been some episodes that have been willing to show off the eventual fate of the titular family.
Where the have been flashes of the future in various episodes (such as Bart becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Season 4's "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie"), this will breakdown the full-length episodes that attempted to ask what happens to the Simpsons family down the line. Here's every flash forward episode of The Simpsons, ranked.
BART TO THE FUTURE (SEASON 12)
"Bart to the Future" opens in a similar way to (the far superior) "Lisa's Wedding," which we'll get to later on this list. One of the Simpson children meets someone who offers them a vision of the future. This time it's Bart at an Indian Casino (and yes, the jokes about the casino have not aged well). The episode shows Bart as a washed-out musical failure who lives with his bandmate, Ralph Wiggum. After the pair are evicted, Bart decides to move in with his sister Lisa -- who has been elected President.
This episode is hands down the worst of the flash forward episodes, and arguably among the worst episodes in the entire series. The decision to make Bart a complete lowlife betrays the genuine heart at the core of the troublemaker. Lisa's presidency is a decent idea, but it's a poor collection of toothless jokes about how Bart is a silly slacker that fails to make for a compelling story. Meanwhile, Homer and Marge are given a C-plot where they search for Lincoln's buried treasure, which may be the ultimate example of The Simpsons doing something random to waste time. The actual plot is resolved by Bart essentially convincing the world not to go to war with America because he says so, and the story pewters out just as weakly as it began.
DAYS OF FUTURE FUTURE (SEASON 25)
Set in the same future as "Holidays of Futures Passed," Bart Simpson has been trying to adjust to his divorce. After taking part in a memory altering procedure similar to the mechanics introduced in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he tried to move on and improve his life. But as he matures, Bart's ex-wife Jenda ends up rediscovering her feelings for Bart. They make another attempt at their relationship, but they ultimately split up again. This reveals that the vision he'd been experiencing was just part of the memory altering procedure, showing him a future where he overcomes his hangups with her.
The episode commits to a full sci-fi tone that doesn't quite work with the cast, turning them into almost parodies of themselves. It feels like a weaker episode of Futurama, incorporating a number of goofy concepts for the sake of a lackluster joke. But many of the tweaks take away any and all tension. Homer dies and is replaced by a clone for decades, before taking on a completely robotic body. Meanwhile Milhouse is bitten by a zombie and loses his nebbish personality, which leads Lisa to become more attracted to him. It's a very minor episode. There's no character exploration on par with the better future episodes, to the point where even the characters themselves bring up how nothing makes sense.
FUTURE-DRAMA (SEASON 16)
"Future Drama" centers around Bart and Lisa when they're in high school and on the verge of graduating. Lisa is set to start college, while Bart ends up being dumped by his girlfriend Jenda (first appearing here before showing up in two other future episodes). But after he saves Mr. Burns from being robbed by Snake, he decides to give the scholarship that'd been awarded to Lisa to him instead. Since that's the only thing that could keep Jenda around, Bart agrees. But when he discovers Lisa's ruined future as a result, he sacrifices his chance for happiness to ensure Lisa's chance of going to college.
"Future-Drama" might not be the best flashforward in the series, but it does at least approach a solid level of quality. Despite all the sci-fi jokes that don't land nearly as well as the episode thinks they do, there are enough solid character beats that feel authentic to the cast. One element of The Simpsons has always been how Bart will always sacrifice to ensure his sister's ultimate happiness, and that element fuels the heart of the episode. The framing device of Bart and Lisa alongside Frink does offer some solid gags (Lisa's horror at finding out how Milhouse convinced her to go to prom is pretty great), but the stronger emotional beats of the episode never elevate beyond the mostly jokey nature.
MR. LISA'S OPUS (SEASON 29)
"Mr. Lisa's Opus" is similar to "Barthood," but less defined. The episode shifts across four time periods almost at random: When Lisa turns seven, no one remembers her birthday. As a teenager, Lisa realizes Marge is intending to finally leave Homer and is able to convince her father to finally give up drinking (with the help of his AA sponsor, Ned Flanders) to salvage the relationship. Years later, Lisa writes an essay about the incident that gets her into Harvard, although she has trouble adjusting to moving into the university. Bookending the beginning and end of the episode are short scenes about Lisa as a baby, when Homer first realized just how smart his daughter was going to become.
The disjointed nature of the episode leaves a lot to be desired, as there's no real throughline besides "look at what a life I've led." The ending is a montage of moments from across Lisa's life, failing to give it the kind of emotional completion that makes the similar "Barthood" a better-constructed episode. But in the character moments, the episode shines. Homer and Marge's near breakup and ultimate reconciliation is genuinely heartwrenching, which is countered well by Homer's silly but sincere sped-up version of the twelve steps program with Flanders. Lisa becoming lifelong friends (and maybe more) with one of her new roommates is a sweet sequence given her long-standing excitement to finally meet people like her college. Plus, Maggie holding up a sign telling her sister that "she speaks for her" is a fantastic touch. While the lack of any real overarching connections hinders it, those smaller moments help make the episode somewhat effective.
BARTHOOD (SEASON 27)
One of the best episodes of the recent seasons, "Barthood" is both an extended parody of Boyhood and a surprisingly heartfelt exploration of Bart and his most important relationships. The episode charts Bart as he grows up, starting when he's roughly 5 years old. He develops a close connection with his Grampa, who teaches him the basics of driving and later gives him a bike as a present. But Homer's already clear preference for Lisa weighs heavily on the young boy. The episode skips to his twelfth birthday, where Lisa's accomplishments out shine him again. The episode slowly works through the rest of his teen years, watching as his relationship with Homer and Lisa morphs over the years. The final sequence cuts ahead to Bart after he's opened his own bike customization store and finally makes peace with Lisa.
Where "Barthood" succeeds and "Mr. Lisa's Opus" doesn't is by finding a throughline to Bart's most important relationships. His back and forth with Homer is portrayed as a more innocently troubled relationship than it usually is, and is given an entire arc within the episode that also reflects their long and layered relationship. Homer never strangles Bart, but instead can't find common ground with him -- even when he opens up to him about his own self-doubts. Meanwhile, his relationship with Lisa is shown completely from his perspective, putting a new angle on all the times Lisa outshined Bart for laughs. It's a surprisingly bittersweet episode that's willing to explore a lot of very heavy subtle elements of the entire series. It's ambitious, at times flawed, but one of the more interesting episodes in recent years.
LISA'S WEDDING (SEASON 6)
"Lisa's Wedding" came during the so-called "Golden Age" of The Simpsons, and is the first episode to primarily explore the future of the family. In the episode, Lisa is greeted by a fortune teller while at a Renaissance Fair. There, she offers to show Lisa the story of her first love. Lisa meets Hugh while studying abroad. The two quickly fall in love and become engaged. But things take a turn when they return to Springfield to meet her family. Homer tries his best to help set things. Despite his best intentions, Homer constantly embarrasses Hugh. On the day of the wedding, Hugh reveals to Lisa that he's excited to never have to deal with her family again after the pair are married and move back to England. Forced to choose between Hugh and her family, Lisa leaves Hugh at the altar. But in the present, she's at peace with it and finds Homer in the fair.
An emotionally powerful episode, "Lisa's Wedding" sees Lisa finally fully confront her role in the Simpsons family. Although she has found the kind of life that she always dreamed of as a child, Lisa can't make herself turn away from her family. The episode is less dedicated to making "future" jokes, although the few that do occur are low-key enough to not be distracting. Instead, the majority of the humor comes from the people and how they've changed -- or in some cases haven't -- in the ensuing years. But at the core of the episode is the relationship between Lisa and her family and how much that ultimately matters to her. It's a highlight of the era, and a memorable first venture into the future.
HOLIDAYS OF FUTURE PASSED (SEASON 23)
Initially intended as a possible final episode of the show if the producers weren't able to secure future episodes, "Holidays of Future Passed" features a major time skip. The episode jumps ahead two decades. Lisa and Milhouse are married and have a teenage daughter Zia. Bart has married -- and since divorced -- Jenda, with the couple having sons named Skippy and Jiff. Maggie has become a major rock star and is in the final weeks of her first pregnancy. The episode follows the family as they decide to celebrate the holiday together, leading to some surprising friction. Homer proves to be a better father figure to his grandsons than he ever was to Bart, and Lisa finds herself arguing with her own rebellious daughter.
If "Holidays of Future Passed" would have been the series finale for The Simpsons, it would have been a fitting ending. It takes time to give every member of the family a sense of emotional closure while teasing what's become of their lives more than just making forgettable jokes. It also serves as a fitting piece of closure for the series, reflecting the very first episode by bringing the family together for a Christmas story. The episode also finds time to explore the grown relationship between Lisa and Bart, Marge and Lisa, Homer and Marge, and even Homer and Grampa. It presents the most engaging version of the Simpsons future, finding the humanity of the characters while still keeping a good number of jokes.