Many moons ago, The Weeknd told Variety, “An obvious bucket list would be to work on The Simpsons. That would be a dream — and if they’re reading this, I actually have a pretty cool idea if they’re down.”
Looks like the animated show’s creators were, in fact, reading it. Almost two years after speaking it into existence, the “Blinding Lights” singer has announced that his dream of joining the yellow world of The Simpsons is coming true. Born Abel Tesfaye, the Weeknd took to Twitter Sunday (March 6) to confirm that he will be voicing a character named Orion Hughes in the March 20 episode of the three decades-long animated TV series, which is currently in its 33rd season.
“Proud of this one,” he wrote, retweeting a story of the news with an appropriate yellow-heart emoji.
No further details on his character’s role in the episode are known yet, but Tesfaye did say in his 2020 Variety interview that he hopes each of his acting roles will generate new versions of his real-life persona. “I want to continue to create different Weeknds in alternate universes,” he told the magazine at the time.
His upcoming Simpsons appearance won’t be the first Weeknd alter ego to appear in an animated sitcom. The 32-year-old artist previously voiced characters on Robot Chicken and guest starred as himself on American Dad, to which he contributed a joking original track called “I’m a Virgin.”
In addition to landing various guest spots, Tesfaye has also recently taken up producing his own TV-made projects. He premiered his music performance special The Dawn FM Experience exclusively on Prime Video in February, and announced last year that he will star in an upcoming HBO series of his own creation called The Idol, which he’ll also produce alongside Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.