Matt Groening issues response to Nancy Cartwright's suggestion of The Simpsons ending at 40 seasons

After Nancy Cartwright raised eyebrows when she predicted when The Simpsons will finally come to an end, the show's creator has given his verdict.

Seeing as The Simpsons has been on our screens for 36 years, making it the longest-running animated series and sitcom in American history, it shouldn't come as a surprise that there's been whispers of it wrapping up once and for all.

And after Nancy Cartwright, the voice behind the iconic Bart Simpson, made a prediction that the show will end at its 40th season, despite a second movie being in the works, creator Matt Groening has decided to speak out and give his take on the matter.

Speaking at Disney's D23 in Anaheim, California, Groening answered a few questions from fans in a Q&A event - and one, of course, was about Cartwright's comment.

"Based on a recent comment that Nancy Cartwright made on the show ending on 40 seasons, what are your guys thoughts on it?" a fan asked, to which Groening replied: "There’s many things about The Simpsons on the internet that you cannot believe.

Matt Groening has addressed the comment about The Simpsons' future made by Nancy Cartwright (FOX)

"I don’t think.. My guess is that was a tossed off remark made by Nancy, I don’t know.

"But no, we’re never going to end, come on!"

That's pretty lucky considering The Simpsons' 38th season is set to air in September this year!

So, what did Cartwright say, exactly?

During a recent appearance on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, the voice actor was asked how long she thought the legendary cartoon would run.

"40 [seasons]" Cartwright said, before reiterating that was just her opinion and not fact.

Rosenbaum then asked what she would do if producers said 'We wanna keep going?', to which Cartwright joked: "Are we still alive?" before asking whether everyone else would still be around, too.

According to the creator of The Simpsons, it'll never end! (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)

"Yeah, we’ll keep going then," she said.

This comes after showrunner Matt Selman revealed what The Simpsons' final episode would look like - well, that's if it ever ends, of course.

Selman told The Wrap: “We did an episode about a year-and-a-half ago that was like a parody of the series finale. We jammed every possible series finale concept into one show, so that was sort of my way of saying we’re never going to do a series finale.

“We did a series finale in the middle of the show that made fun of all the ideas of wrapping everything up or ending.”

Like Groening, he's certain that the show won't end, but if it does, there wouldn't be a 'final episode' and there definitely wouldn't be any goodbyes.

"The show isn’t supposed to change. The characters reset every week. It’s like Groundhog Day but they don’t know it — and they don’t die that much," he added.

"If the show ever did end, there’s no finale, it would just be a regular episode that has the family in it. Probably a little Easter egg here and there, but no 'I’m going to miss this place'."