When David Bowie turned down The Simpsons

2 July 2026, 14:41

David Bowie was on the list to appear alongside Tony Blair and JK Rowling.

As well as being a singular talent, David Bowie was one of pop's greatest collaborators.

Not just in his music, where he duetted with all manner of stars big and small, but also by jumping into movie and TV projects headed by equally strong-minded artists like Nicolas Roeg, David Lynch, Tony Scott, Martin Scorsese and Jim Henson.

• When David Bowie starred in a quirky video game that you may have forgotten
• Here's how a David Bowie classic ended up soundtracking the end of Stranger Things
• Listen to the Gold Radio Greats Live Playlist on Global Player, the official Gold app

But Bowie also knew when it was best to say no.

When Coldplay's Chris Martin sent him a track for a potential hook-up, he gently (ish) turned him down ("He called me and said, 'It's not one of your best'," Martin admitted.)

And when The Simpsons came knocking, it appears that he also firmly said no to that hook-up, too.

The episode in question was Season 15's fourth: The Regina Monologues. Written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Mark Kirkland, it would eventually air on November 23, 2003.

The Simpsons Go To England

That means that recording for the episode would have taken place around the time David Bowie was making Reality, his 2003 album that would be his last until his shock return a decade later with The Next Day.

Perhaps Bowie was too busy to do anything for the episode, but given he could have just said a few words down the line it's more likely that it just wasn't what he wanted to do.

And the V&A Bowie archive poised to tour the country includes a copy of the script that, in their words "Bowie politely declined".

By Season 15, The Simpsons had long passed its golden era, and at times seemed to make up for a drop in quality with an overload of celebrity special guests playing themselves.

David Bowie - New Killer Star (Live) [Official Video] [4K]

And despite Bowie's absence, The Regina Monologues was especially starry.

As well as Frasier's Jane Leeves playing a character called Edwina, it featured US reality TV star Evan Marriott, Ian McKellen, JK Rowling and even then-Prime Minister Tony Blair.

And there was a part for a musician – with both David Bowie and Morrissey touted for the role – but it just didn't come together.

Of how they managed to snaffle Rowling, producer Al Jean told IGN: "She likes the show, we got her by satellite, I think from Scotland, and she'd just had her baby.

Lisa meets J.K Rowling

"What happens is they go into a studio where they are, they are on the phone with a dedicated line and we can just record them over the phone."

So David Bowie didn't appear in The Simpsons, but a later episode made after his death did depict him.

In Season 31's ninth episode Todd, Todd, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me, which first aired on December 1, 2019, Lisa asks the Buddha what Bowie has been reincarnated as.

The answer? A fly who says "Help Me Love, it's Bowie!".

David Bowie References in The Simpsons

And his music has popped up on the show a few times, with 'Changes', 'Golden Years', "Heroes" and 'Starman' being heard over the years.

It's worth noting that David Bowie DID agree to star in another cartoon a few years later.

He popped up Lord Royal Highness in the SpongeBob SquarePants Atlantis SquarePantis TV special that kicked off season five of that show.

"We wanted a sort of Willy Wonka kind of a character and we thought he would be perfect for the role," producer Paul Tibbitt later said of the casting.

David Bowie teaches Spongebob about art

And just a few years after skipping The Simpsons, Bowie was utterly breathless on his online journal.

"It's happened. At last. I've hit the Holy Grail of animation gigs," he said.

"Yesterday I got to be a character on ... tan-tara ... SpongeBob SquarePants. Oh Yeah!! We, the family, are thrilled.

"Nothing else need happen this year, well, this week anyway. My character in this special longform (I think a half-hour special) show is called 'Lord Royal Highness'. Alrighteee!!"