The Simpsons producer says major character kill off will be bigger than Game Of Thrones' Purple Wedding

By Shyam Dodge

Published: 12:58 EDT, 30 April 2014 | Updated: 00:09 EDT, 1 May 2014

The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean shocked fans when he announced last year he was planning on killing off a major character.

And now Jean is comparing the death to Game Of Thrones, even calling the upcoming episode the 'Yellow Wedding' - referencing the HBO fantasy show's now notorious Purple Wedding.

The producer promises that the season 26 premiere scheduled for this autumn will 'be a bigger deal' than Game of Thrones.

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Setting expectations: The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean is comparing the impending death to Game Of Thrones' Purple Wedding episode, nicknaming his animated season 26 premiere the 'Yellow Wedding'

Speaking to TV Line, Jean explained: 'The character that dies is portrayed by an actor who won an Emmy for playing that character.

'People who reported on it then reported we were killing an "iconic" character; I’d like to say it’s a great character, but I never used the word "iconic".'

Adding: 'It’s a terrific character and it [happens in] our premiere this coming year.'

Going big: The producer compared his upcoming premiere to Game Of Thrones episode Rains of Castermere

Although the death may not be permanent as the executive producer made it clear 'We always have kind of a flexible reality,' suggesting the character could return.

High hopes: Al Jean made the bold the claims as his animated series is at an all-time low in ratings, pictured in Los Angeles last week

He also made sure to tell the voice actor that the kill would not 'mean the end' of their 'participation' in the long running series.

The Emmy clue is not much to go by when trying to figure out who might be the unhappy victim in The Simpsons universe, considering that almost all of the actors who supplied voices for the main Simpsons characters have taken home Emmys.

The main players are Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer, Julie Kavner, who does Marge, Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart, and Yeardley Smith, who's Lisa.

A character on the show hasn't died since Maud Flanders was killed 14 years ago.

Meanwhile, the much-beloved animated series has been plummeting in the ratings race.

Sunday night's episode What To Expect When Bart's Expecting saw the show reach an all-time low in ratings with only 3.4million viewers.

The series has been slowly declining in recent years, with The Great Simpsina from season 22 previously holding the title for the lowest rated episode of the show's history with an estimate 4.9million viewers.

To keep things in perspective The Simpsons reached it's all-time high in 1990 with Bart Gets An 'F' garnering in 33.6million viewers.

And the show has yet to regain it's former glory.

According to A.V. Club this doesn't mean the end of The Simpsons any time soon as the dramedy is still beating out other show's in it's time slot.

Can't conjure the right ratings: The Simpsons fell to an all-time low as ratings plummeted on Sunday night

The Fox series came in second on Sunday night with Family Guy and even managed to draw in more viewers than other shows in its same time slot such as The Good Wife and Revenge.

And its strong numbers have managed to get it a contract for a 26th season, giving show runners an opportunity to pick up its viewership.

This comes after the show is about to air it's most expensive episode ever.

Slow decline: The much-beloved show has been slowly slipping in the ratings race

The minds behind The Simpsons have spent two years creating it's most expensive episode ever and it's first that places America's favourite family in a Springfield made of LEGOs.

The episode dubbed Brick Like Me will be historic episode number 550 of what is now the longest running scripted series in television history.

But it wasn't easy getting there.

Grave future: The show has never reached the same viewership as its most watched episode from 1990

'We've literally been at this thing for two years — twice the time it takes to do one of our regular episodes,' executive producer Matt Selman told TV Guide.

The idea for the episode began with LEGO Group approaching Fox about creating a Simpson's character playset.

LEGO's president of licensing Jill Wilfert told TV Guide that while merchandising was still being hashed out, the 80-year-old company suggested the show do a LEGO opening couch sequence.

Is that you, Marge? A May 4 episode of The Simpsons puts America's favorite family into a LEGO-fied Springfield

'They quickly came back to us and said, 'Forget the couch; let's do an entire episode!'" Wilfert said.

It was the start of a delicate dance between two popular culture titans.

'We're pretty picky about how our brand is represented,' Wilfert said. 'No one at the show is used to dealing with creative input from the outside.'

They're not worried: The cast of The Simpsons, seen here in 2007 with crew members, won't mind if one of their characters dies off because they have others they work on