Maggie, Marge, Lisa, Homer and Bart from "The Simpsons".

Mrs. Glick, we hardly knew ye.

In its latest episode, "The Simpsons" wasted no time before killing off an established character who was introduced to the show before many of its modern viewers were even born.

The episode "Sashes to Sashes," which aired on Nov. 16, opens with a scene at church where Reverend Lovejoy is giving a sermon when organist Alice Glick suddenly collapses. Everyone in the church gasps, and Mrs. Glick is shown lying dead on the organ.

In the next scene, Principal Skinner leads an assembly "for a dead lady you've never met," explaining that Mrs. Glick has left her estate to the school to fund a new music program.

"The Simpsons" executive producer Tim Long addressed the plot point in a statement to TVLine and confirmed Mrs. Glick's death. "In a sense, Alice the organist will live forever, through the beautiful music she made. But in another, more important sense, yep she's dead as a doornail," Long said.

"The Simpsons" is currently in Season 37, and Mrs. Glick was introduced all the way back in Season 2.

The character made her first appearance in the 1991 episode "Three Men and a Comic Book," in which Bart Simpson does chores for her because he needs money to buy a comic book. After a week of work, Mrs. Glick only pays him 50 cents. Cloris Leachman originally voiced the role, though Tress MacNeille later took it over.

But "Sashes to Sashes" isn't the first time Mrs. Glick has died on "The Simpsons." In the Season 23 episode "Replaceable You" from 2011, she was killed by a robotic baby seal, and the episode ended with a shot of her dancing in heaven.

Despite having a loose sense of canon and existing in a world where its characters largely don't change or age, "The Simpsons" has occasionally killed off established characters during its run. Ned Flanders' wife, Maude, famously died in a 2000 episode, and a memorable 1995 episode emotionally killed off Lisa Simpson's mentor, saxophone player Bleeding Gums Murphy.

In May, the Season 36 finale also depicted a future in which Marge Simpson dies, though executive producer Matt Selman refuted reports suggesting the show had killed off the character permanently.

"Obviously since the 'The Simpsons' future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they're all different every time," Selman told Variety. "Marge will probably never be dead ever again. The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago."

Selman also stressed at the time, "'The Simpsons' doesn't even have canon!"

"The Simpsons" returned for its 37th season in September, and the long-running series has already been renewed through Season 40. A second "Simpsons" feature film is also in the works and scheduled for release in July 2027.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Simpsons' just killed off a character introduced in 1991

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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