Fox "very much want" to make ‘The Simpsons Movie 2’.
James L. Brooks, who co-produces the animated TV series, has revealed the film studio are up for a sequel to 2007’s ‘The Simpsons Movie’ and admitted the production team could explore the possibility "soon".
He said: "Fox very much wants us to do another one, and maybe we will and maybe we won’t – that’s where it is.
"How do we divide our labours, and do we believe in the idea we have? We may go into a more active exploration of a second movie soon."
The first ‘Simpsons’ motion picture was a huge success, grossing more than $520 million worldwide, and while the TV series is in its 27th year and 28th season, Brooks admits it nearly came to an end around 1997.
He explained: "Around eight years in – I swear to God this is the truth. It’s an impossible truth to believe, so I say it with that caveat – but the truth is for me, about eight years in, we were going ‘Where are we going to get another story?’ and then we broke through that and never looked back.
"For some reason, coming up with stories stopped being hard and are not hard for us. I don’t know why. I don’t know how to explain that. I don’t think we’re repeating ourselves."
The star admits at times it is tough to think of new ideas for episodes, and they have showrunner Al Jean to rely on to tell them if the subject has already been dealt with in an episode.
He added to LRM: "There’s always Al Jean, who’s our showrunner. He has a massive brain, and he knows everything we’ve done, and he’s always in the room who says, ‘Can’t, we’ve done that,’ and we go on and veer to the right when he says that."
The first ‘Simpsons’ movie saw Dan Castellaneta reprise his role as a number of characters, including Homer Simpsons, Krusty the Clown and Sideshow Mel.
Julie Kavner voiced Marge Simpson, while Nancy Cartwright was Bart and Maggie Simpson.
In the film, Homer accidentally polluted Springfield’s water supply and the town was covered in a huge dome.