Boots Riley is taking one of television’s most indestructible artefacts and asking what might survive of it after the world ends.
The filmmaker and musician – best known for the anti-capitalist surrealism of Sorry to Bother You and the maximalist satire I’m a Virgo – has confirmed he will direct a feature adaptation of Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, the cult stage work by Anne Washburn.
The news emerged quietly via a Playbill bio before Riley himself confirmed its legitimacy on X, replying simply: ‘This is a true thing.’
The premise, like much of Riley’s work, is deceptively playful.
Mr. Burns begins in a post-apocalyptic clearing, where a small group of survivors attempt to reconstruct, from memory alone, a single episode of The Simpsons.
That episode is Cape Feare, the fifth season classic in which Sideshow Bob stalks Bart Simpson with homicidal theatricality and an endless sequence of stepped-on rakes.
As the play moves forward by decades, fragments of Cape Feare mutate: first into a campfire story, then into a ramshackle theatrical performance traded between survivors, and eventually into a fully fledged musical myth.
By the time civilisation has partially rebuilt itself, the Simpsons episode has become scripture.
It is recognisable only in outline, yet freighted with new meanings about power, fear, death and greed.
Washburn’s play has long been a favourite among theatre-makers precisely because it treats pop culture as folklore.
It asks how mass entertainment might endure once electricity, streaming platforms and copyright law have vanished.
That question feels especially pointed in Riley’s hands. Across his work, from Sorry to Bother You’s corporate body horror to I’m a Virgo’s superhero allegory, he has shown a fascination with how stories are commodified, distorted, and weaponised.
The original Simpsons episode was directed by Rich Moore and written by Jon Vitti, and is routinely cited among the show’s greatest half-hours.
It distils everything the series once did best, including throwaway jokes that became generational shorthand. Sideshow Bob, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, stepping on rake after rake remains simply and elegantly hilarous.
Little is currently known about how Riley will translate Washburn’s structurally daring play to cinema, or how prominently The Simpsons imagery itself will feature.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
