Meet Ms. Peyton, who’ll be the permanent replacement for Mrs. Krabappel.
“Teaching Bart is a job filled with growth opportunities,” says Washington.
Write this many times on the chalkboard: Bart finally has a new teacher.
Kerry Washington and Ms. Peyton.Kevin Winter/Getty Images; fox
“She’s a great teacher,” Washington tells EW.
And teaching Bart is a job filled with growth opportunities."
That’s certainly true it just took quite a long time to find the right person for the gig.
Ms. Peyton, voiced by Kerry Washington, on ‘The Simpsons’.fox
We can get some great guest stars here and there before we settle on somebody."
Which is what they did.
In a season 29 episode, Flanders became Bart’s teacher.
We would have a conversation at least once a year, maybe every other year.
We couldn’t really decide, and we couldn’t really agree.
There just wasn’t the inspired thought until we came upon this."
Omine had been pondering some kind of role for Washington since seeing the actress hostSaturday Night Livein 2013.
Opportunity arose in 2020.
I’m avail."
“That just got it into my head,” Omine says.
“I began thinking, ‘Maybeshecould be the new teacher.
We’ve had this spot.’
Washington confirms that Twitter was “instrumental” in making this casting happen.
“I’m just a hugeSimpsonsfan!”
“What an extraordinary legacy to be a part of!
And I thought the idea of playing Bart’s teacher was so funny.
I used to be a teacher in NYC public schools.
And my mother is a retired teacher.
Teaching is, to me, a sacred profession.
I could only imagine the laughs involved in teaching Bart.”
“Most of our teachers are kind of burnouts, and it’s just a function of comedy.
But we thought, ‘Let’s just make this different, let’s make her a good teacher.’
They’re just a bit too much, but they’re good at their job.
We wanted to have that kind of teacher.”
Ms. Peyton is “very dedicated,” she continues.
“She blurts [things] out.
She’s a little too honest, in a very, very sweet, quirky way.
She can be, as they say, ‘a lot.’
But she’s also fun.”
It was really touching.")
(The plan is for Ms. Peyton to pop up with the same frequency as Mrs. “Kerry is so busy, but we’re very excited,” Omine says.
We already can see where other little things can happen.”
Tune in Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox to see Washington go fourth (grade) and conquer.
