Times The Simpsons Accurately Predicted the Future

The Simpsons is one of the longest running adult animated series, first airing in 1989. In addition to being hysterical the show has a way of predicting the future that no one can explain. 

Sorry for the spoiler alert but if you haven’t already watched the Game of Thrones finale, you’re a little late to the game. In 2017, the Simpsons did a parody of the show where the dragons burn down an entire village.

This one is so weird it feels like it couldn’t possibly be true. Who could think this up as a show idea and how could it possibly have also happened in real life? In 2002, an episode of The Simpsons revolved around a criminal who glues cotton calls to ferrets.

In one of the oldest episodes, Lisa and Bart go fishing near a nuclear power plant. They catch an unusual fish that seems to have been affected by the radiation. The bizarre catch has three eyes.

Whoever writes this show should get a gig as a psychic or start placing bets on games because their ability to basically tell the future is astonishing! An episode from 2010 stars Marge and Homer on the U.S. Olympic Team for an unlikely sport: Curling.

Somehow, the show even managed to predict an enormous corporate merge between two of the biggest media companies of all time. In the episode, Homer writes a script that gets picked up by 20th Century Fox.

The kids in The Simpsons have betting pools for who will be the next Nobel Prize Winner instead of betting pools for sports teams. In some inexplicable way, they predicted a future winner and the category he would win in!

A 1995 episode took place 15 years in the future in London. The London skyline features the famed Big Ben but it also displays something that wasn’t built until many years later. That pointy black building was certainly not there in the 90s.

The show has predicted more than events and discoveries. They have also predicted technological advancements. A 1992 episode features a “baby translator” device to understand Maggie.

In a 2014 episode an art forger tells Lisa stories about the famous people who have enjoyed his art. One of which was Richard Branson. In the clip, Branson is floating in his spaceship admiring the art piece. 

The Simpsons made a spoof episode about the crazy amounts of sequels that are coming to theaters. In the episode, they display a Star Wars 7 poster alongside a Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 movie poster.

In this 2014 episode, The Simpsons hit us with a double whammy prediction that is really hard to believe. The episode follows Homer who is trying to help the World Football Federation recover from the many scandals that had fallen on the league due to corruption rumors.

Perhaps Lisa is the one behind all of these amazing future predictions because in a 1992 episode, they reveal that she has a special ability to guess NFL game winners. Naturally, Homer started using her to win games. 

A 1990 episode of the show was all about censorship in which Marge tries to get a cartoon censored. While this is happening, the other citizens are working to get Muchaelangelo’s David statue covered up.

In an earlier episode Homer uses nuclear energy to breed a new plant hybrid called “tomacco” which was naturally a tobacco and tomato hybrid. The plant ended up making him a fortune.

This sinister moment between Siegfried and Roy and their own trained animal actually happened in real life. In a 1993 episode, Homer goes to Vegas with a friend to see a performance of two Germans and a white tiger.

This is one of those “life imitates art” moments. In a The Simpsons episode aired in 2001, Homer goes on a hunger strike to protest his favorite minor league baseball team, The Isotopes, moving to New Mexico.

The show made an interesting prediction about a Beatles member answering fan mail 50 years after the fact. In the show it was Ringo Starr who is sifting through tons of fan mail and promising to answer each one even if it takes him 20 years.

The show even predicted that the submersible would go missing on an expedition to the Titanic wreckage. Way back in 2006 in an episode called “Homer’s Paternity Coot’, Homer’s long-lost father comes into the picture to bring Homer on an underwater treasure hunt. The two venture to the bottom of the ocean where there is a shipwreck and a treasure chest. Homer gets himself stuck in the process.

Lady Gaga actually voiced herself on a 2012 episode of the show where she visits Springfield to perform. They had the animated singer suspended above the ground in an animated version of one of her famous ensembles. 

Conan O’Brien wrote an episode in season four revolving around Homer and his seemingly bottomless pit of a stomach. He gets kicked out of the restaurant for literally eating everything there and then sues the “all-you-can-eat buffet” for false advertising.

In an episode filmed way back in the mid 90s, Lisa and Marge are talking on what they called a “picture phone”. It looked an awful lot like something that we all are familiar with using today.

The Simpsons weren’t the only show to think of smart watches before they were actually invented, but they were able to predict specific features of these devices. In an episode from 1995, the show flashes forward to 2010.

Today, people going up into space are becoming almost normalized! It seems like we hear about a new space journey funded by a new billionaire almost everyday. But, when this episode where Homer is sent into space came out, civilians being able to go to space was nothing but a hopeful notion.

In 1994, characters Kearney and Dolph tried to write a memo saying “bear up Martin” but it was changed to say “Eat up Martha”. This was before we had the autocorrect feature that we all use today.

The show was able to predict many moments that we can laugh at but they also predicted some rather sad things as well. While all their jokes were in the name of parody and comedy, some of the predictions that came true were harsh.

In this special instance, fans of The Simpsons pulled one over on all of us. At this point, many people are aware of their seemingly psychic abilities. When Queen Elizabeth II passed away in September of 2022, images started to make their way across the internet that suggested the show had predicted her passing.

Mr. Burns creates a softball team in a 1992 episode. He recruits the Yankees first baseman, Don Mattingly to the team but the two run into issues. Mr. Burns demands that Mattingly shave his sideburns but when he does, he is still kicked off the team.

A 1999 episode follows Homer and Stephen Hawking in which the character is voiced by the real life theoretical physicist. Homer shares his donut-shaped universe theory with Hawking.

An episode all the way back in 1998 Lisa and Bart beg their parents to let them play this new yard work simulation game. In the show it was just about as boring as it sounds.

This one leaves us speechless as to how the creators made this wild prediction. Homer becomes an inventor and writes a complicated equation on the blackboard. This equation might look like nothing special to us.

One of the most famous predictions the show ever made was the presidency of Donal Trump. In an episode where Marge runs for President, she makes a comment: “We inherited the budget crunch from President Trump”.

Homer falls prey to many “get rich quick” schemes throughout the show. One of these involves him stealing cooking grease from places around town and selling it to turn a profit.

In a 1990 episode of The Simpsons, Marge is trying to cheer up her husband by reading him a book. The story is titled “Curious George and the Ebola Virus”.

This is one that we wish wasn’t a real prediction at all but it did in fact come true years after it appeared on the show. In an episode, Lunchlady Doris is seen adding horse meat to the Elementary School lunches.

The show within the show, “Itchy and Scratchy” features pretty graphic tones. In line with this theme, The Simpsons used a bloody billboard to promote their first movie: Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie. 

The infamous “Whacking Day” made its way onto the show. This holiday in the Simpsons universe involved getting rid of as many snakes as possible.

A 2004 episode perfectly predicted the Matrix 4 premiere poster. The poster in The Simpsons episode featured Keanu Reeves as Neo with a Santa hat on for a movie called “A Matrix Christmas”.

In an episode called “Marge in Chains” The Simpsons made another uncanny prediction related to a major world event. In the show, a group of people accidentally knocked over a truck that held a huge box of “killer bees”.

When The Simpsons made its way onto the big screen in 2007 they began making accurate predictions in The Simpsons Movie as well. Tom Hanks makes an appearance in the movie to help the U.S. gain some credibility back.

Another prediction made in The Simpsons Movie involved the huge NSA spying scandal that involved Edward Snowden in 2013. Back in 2007, the movie followed the Simpson family as they escape from the EPA biodome in Springfield. 

Way back in 2000 the writers made another prediction that some people think might just be a happy coincidence. Others are convinced it’s another accurate vision into what occurred in the Presidential election in 2021.

It might seem outdated now, but at a time the first generation iPod was all the rage. This set the stage for the iPhones we carry our music around on today.

In an episode in 2012 called “Politically Inept With Homer Simpson”, Homer makes an appearance on a news show. On the show within the show a headline reads: “Europe puts Greece on eBay”.

One of the things that many fans of the show cannot wrap their heads around was this nod to cryptocurrency. In an old episode they give a subtle nod to the meme crypto coin called “Shiba Inu Coin”.

In 2018, Canada legalized the use of cannabis. But way back in 2005, it seems the writers of The Simpsons already had a feeling this would be the case.

While this prediction hasn’t come true just yet, it’s well on it’s way. An early episode featured Homer and Bart in what they called a “Hover Car”.

Lots of fans believe that The Simpsons actually predicted Elon Musk purchasing the Twitter platform in 2022.

Greta Thunberg has become the young face of the movement to protect the Earth and save our environment. It appears, The Simpsons might have seen her coming before we did.

In an old episode, Homer fills up his car with tons of gas because of his concern about a gas shortage. Naturally, in true Homer fashion, he fills the trunk of his car with it.

This prediction is one of the most controversial. Conspiracy theorists like to believe that this episode was a prediction of the COVID-19 virus. Others are unsure.