The Simpsons is considered one of the most famous American television series, focusing on a family of five: parents Homer and Marge, and their children Lisa, Bart, and Maggie. They live in the fictional city of Springfield, where they face various events, some of which are related to contemporary American issues. This relevance has contributed to its popularity. However, what has further increased its fame is the numerous predictions made throughout the series that, at first, seemed fictional but later became reality after several years. Some have even begun to question whether the show’s writers are time travelers or somehow connected to the famous seer Nostradamus. Do The Simpsons really predict global events, or is the world merely following the script of the show? In this article, we highlight some of the most notable predictions featured in the series, leaving it up to you to decide whether they are mere coincidences or if something else is at play.

The Burning of King’s Landing by Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones

Season 29, Episode 1 – In the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen shocked viewers when she and her dragon destroyed the city of King’s Landing, which had already surrendered. This act led to the obliteration of thousands of innocents. Referring back to The Simpsons, in an episode titled “The Serfsons,” aired in 2017, the show parodied various aspects of Game of Thrones, including the three-eyed raven and the Night King. In this episode, Homer revives a dragon that begins to burn a village, mirroring events that occurred two years later in the original series.

Apple’s Vision Pro Virtual Reality Headset

Season 28, Episode 2 – In 2024, Apple launched the Vision Pro virtual reality headset, showcasing social media more rapidly. This resembles an episode of The Simpsons from 2016 titled “Friends and Family,” where Mr. Burns hires the Simpsons family to be his family in virtual reality. They all wear headsets strikingly similar to the Vision Pro. The episode concludes with the residents of Springfield wearing VR headsets, causing them to collide with streetlights and fall into holes.

Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Performance

Season 23, Episode 22 – In 2012, the famous singer Lady Gaga performed in an episode of The Simpsons while suspended in the air. Five years later, in real life, she performed from the roof of Houston’s NRG Stadium in a similar fashion during halftime of the Super Bowl.

Winning the Nobel Prize

Season 22, Episode 1 – In 2016, MIT professor Bengt Holmström won the Nobel Prize in Economics, six years after being predicted to win in The Simpsons. His name appears on a betting results card when Martin, Lisa, and Milhouse bet on Nobel Prize winners.

The United States Defeats Sweden in Curling at the Olympics

Season 21, Episode 12 – In one of the biggest surprises of the 2018 Winter Olympics, Team USA won the curling competition against Sweden, who was the undefeated champion in that sport. This historic win was foreshadowed in a 2010 episode titled “Boy Meets Curl,” where Marge and Homer Simpson represent Team USA in curling at the Vancouver Olympics, defeating Sweden. This mirrored the real-life scenario when the U.S. men’s Olympic curling team won the gold medal against Sweden, despite being behind—exactly like in the episode.

Defective Voting Machines

Season 20, Episode 4 – In 2008, Homer attempted to vote for Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential elections, but a defective machine changed his vote to the opponent. Four years later, this scenario occurred when a voting machine in Pennsylvania had to be removed after it continuously switched votes from Obama to his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney.

Legalizing Marijuana in Canada

Season 16, Episode 6 – In 2005, Homer and Ned discovered that marijuana consumption was legal in Canada during an episode titled “Midnight Rx.” In 2018, Canada legalized recreational marijuana use.

Donald Trump as President

Season 11, Episode 17 – In a 2000 episode titled “Bart to the Future,” Donald Trump was named as the President of the United States. In the episode, Lisa becomes the country’s president, and while in the Oval Office, she says, “As you know, we inherited a huge budget crisis from President Trump.” In 2017, Trump indeed became the 45th president of the United States.

Inventing the Tobacco Plant

Season 11, Episode 5 – In 1999, Homer used nuclear energy to create a hybrid of tomato and tobacco plants, known as “tomacco.” This inspired an American fan, Rob Baur, to create his own version of the product in 2003 by grafting tobacco roots and tomato stems together to make “tomacco.” The writers of The Simpsons were so impressed that they invited Baur and his family to their offices and tasted the tomacco fruit themselves.

Disney Acquires 20th Century Fox

Season 10, Episode 5 – In a 1998 episode titled “When You Dish Upon a Star,” Ron Howard and Brian Grazer produced a script that Homer presented, which was produced by 20th Century Fox. A sign in front of the studio revealed it to be “a division of The Walt Disney Company.” Indeed, on December 14, 2017, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion.

Discovering the Higgs Boson Equation

Season 8, Episode 1 – In a 1998 episode titled “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace,” Homer becomes an inventor and sees a complex equation on a chalkboard. According to author Simon Singh, this equation predicts the mass of the Higgs boson particle, which was first theorized in 1964 by Professor Peter Higgs and five other physicists. However, scientists did not find evidence of the Higgs boson particle until 2013.

Robotic Librarians

Season 6, Episode 19 – In an episode titled “Lisa’s Wedding,” we discover that librarians have been replaced by robots in the world of The Simpsons. More than 20 years later, students from Aberystwyth University built a prototype of a walking library robot while scientists in Singapore began testing their own robotic librarians.

Smartwatches

Season 6, Episode 19 – The Simpsons introduced the idea of a watch that can be used as a phone in an episode aired in 1995, nearly 20 years before Apple’s smartwatch was released.

Horsemeat Scandal

Season 5, Episode 19 – In a 1994 episode, the kitchen worker Doris used various horse parts to prepare food for students at Springfield Elementary School. Nine years later, Ireland’s Food Safety Authority found DNA from horses in over a third of beef burger samples in supermarkets and takeaways.

A Message from The Beatles

Season 2, Episode 18 – In 1991, one episode featured Beatles member Ringo Starr diligently responding to fan letters written decades earlier. In September 2013, two Beatles fans from Essex received a response from member Paul McCartney to a letter and recording they sent to the band 50 years prior.