The Simpsons boss reacts after shocking season 36 finale

Fans of Marge Simpson can breathe easier Thursday.

Amid rampant speculation that the matriarch of the iconic animated series was killed off amid the show's 36th season finale, a producer on the long-running animated series clarified she's alive and well.

In response to murmurs that data points in the show's 790-episode canon indicated that Marge had died, executive producer Matt Selman told Variety that Springfield's most famous mom is alive and well.

'There is no canon - the Simpsons' doesn't even have canon!' Selman told the outlet.

Selman said that the freeform nature of the long-running series, which began as skits on The Tracey Ullman Show in the late 1980s, can lend at times to misguided speculation.

'Obviously since The Simpsons future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they're all different every time,' Selman said. 'Marge will probably never be dead ever again.

'The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago.'

The outlet noted that over the show's expansive history, very few characters have had storyline deaths that were clearly intended as permanent; among them were Maude Flanders and Edna Krabappel. 

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The character of Krabappel, Bart's teacher at school, was retired after the beloved voice actor who played the role, Marcia Wallace, died of cancer at the age of 70 in October of 2013.

Marge‘s fate was questioned by fans following the airing of this past season‘s finale on May 18, titled Estranger Things.

In the storyline of the episode, which was penned by Tim Long, siblings Bart and Lisa stopped watching The Itchy & Scratchy Show with one another.

This led them to become distant and grow apart, and the rift between the two expanded with the (fictional passing of their mother) Marge.

In a future sequence, Lisa was seen as the commissioner of the National Basketball Association, while Bart was the proprietor of a sketchy retirement community that his father Homer resided at.

They are still not speaking with one another at a time Lisa returns to Springfield to deliver a speech to the children at the elementary school she formerly attended.

Lisa subsequently discovered a clip Marge recorded prior to her fictional death - telling her kids she wanted them to look after each other - which led to an emotional reconciliation between siblings.

Marge observed all of the happenings from heaven, where she had struck up a romance with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, who is also thankfully alive and well, with his 85th birthday coming up July 7. 

Selman told Variety that the narrative that Marge had died was more of a talking point for media outlets looking to cook up buzz.

'Here's my take: Websites need traffic, and headlines equal traffic,' Selman said. 'And then you can explain that the headline was misleading at the very end of the article.

'Every single media outlet that ran this story knew that in no way was Marge dead. They all knew it, but they ran the headline anyway.'

Selman said that the buzz surrounding Marge 'speaks to the fact that people care about' the character, who is voiced by Julie Kavner.