It was a statement that said everything and nothing at the same time, but fans latched onto it anyway. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, speaking at this week's Disney fan convention in Anaheim, California,D23 2026 panel, said the classic 2003 game The Simpsons: Hit & Run "will come back in some form." Once Empire reported the remark, it spread quickly through gaming circles and among Simpsons fans.
The problem is, current Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman, sitting right next to Groening, almost immediately followed up with: "...or maybe not." That exchange instantly took a chunk out of the so-called "comeback" news's credibility.
Hit & Run launched in 2003 on GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC, taking the open-world structure of Grand Theft Auto and dropping it into Springfield. With its sharp sense of humor, tons of Simpsons Easter eggs, and gameplay that wasn't overly complicated, it became a cult classic among players and fans alike. NME editor Andy Brown once described the game in 2022 as "a perfect window into the early 2000s," lamenting that it had been left to gather dust since release and declaring outright that "it's time for Hit & Run to hit the road again."
This isn't the first time Selman has fielded this question. Back in 2021, he said he'd love to see a remake happen, while also admitting that the rights and production relationships behind it were "like a complicated corporate octopus, hard to untangle." Two years later, the game's original soundtrack finally landed on Spotify and Apple Music, giving fans still waiting for a remake something to hold them over. As recently as this past March, when Selman was asked again, he replied: "Nothing is set in stone, but if you want me to describe my attitude toward a Hit & Run comeback, it's 'never say never' — because we know people love this game, and we know they want it, and that's a good thing, so never say never."
From Groening's remark at D23 to Selman's impromptu walkback, the gap between what the two men said pretty much sums up where things currently stand: someone wants to make it happen, but nobody's actually given the green light.
