The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror could hit Universal's HHN, weirdly teased at Disney's D23
At a Simpsons panel during Disney’s own D23 fan event, showrunner Matt Selman said talks are underway to bring Treehouse of Horror to Universal Studios, starting with food. He also admitted he wasn’t sure he was allowed to say it yet.
Disney threw a convention for Disney fans, and one of the more interesting park scoops that came out of it was about Universal.
At D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim on August 14, during a panel called The Simpsons: Stories from Springfield, an audience member asked a Q&A question: had anyone ever talked about bringing Treehouse of Horror to Halloween Horror Nights?
Showrunner Matt Selman said yes. Then he said more than that.
What Matt Selman actually said
Selman told the room that talks have happened and that the process to bring Treehouse of Horror to Universal has actually begun.
The rollout would “probably start first with food,” per Selman, with an “experience” coming further down the line. Themed snacks first, something bigger later.
Then came the part that makes this fun. Selman noted he wasn’t sure whether he was allowed to say any of that yet.
So treat this accordingly. Nothing is officially confirmed by Universal or Disney, there’s no announced date, and the man who spilled it flagged his own uncertainty about spilling it. What exists is a showrunner saying the conversation is real and moving.
Why hearing this at D23 is strange
D23 is Disney’s event. Disney fans, Disney panels, Disney announcements, Disney’s biggest annual pitch to its own audience.
Universal is Disney’s chief theme park rival, currently spending enormous money to compete with it in Orlando.
And yet the Simpsons panel at Disney’s convention produced news about Simpsons content expanding at Universal’s parks. Laughing Place, which reported it, opened with basically that reaction.
The reason it happens to make sense is a corporate wrinkle. Disney owns The Simpsons, inherited in the 2019 20th Century Fox acquisition. Universal has held the theme park rights for years under a licensing deal signed long before Disney was in the picture. So Disney owns the mouse and the family, and Universal gets to build the rides.
That means Disney’s own showrunner, at Disney’s own convention, was discussing plans for Disney-owned characters at a competitor’s park. Which is either extremely awkward or extremely normal, depending on how closely you follow media licensing.
The Simpsons’ future at Universal has been a running rumor
This lands in the middle of years of speculation, and it points the opposite way from what a lot of people assumed.
Ever since Disney acquired the Fox properties, fans have wondered how long Universal would keep Springfield. The logic seemed obvious. Disney doesn’t usually enjoy its characters headlining someone else’s park.
Talks about expanding the Simpsons footprint at Universal suggest the license isn’t going anywhere soon. You don’t develop new food and a new experience for an attraction you’re about to pull.
Universal already has a Treehouse of Horror ride
One detail keeps this from being entirely new territory. Springfield at Universal Studios Florida already has a Treehouse of Horror attraction.
Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl opened on August 11, 2013, a spinning aerial carousel themed to the aliens from the Halloween specials. Riders board UFOs. It’s been sitting there for over a decade.
So the framework exists. What’s reportedly being discussed is bigger, and possibly tied to Halloween Horror Nights, Universal’s massive seasonal event that has spent years turning licensed properties into houses and scare zones.
Fans have been asking Universal to give Treehouse of Horror the HHN treatment since at least 2009. The idea has been sitting in plain sight the whole time.
What we still don’t know
Almost everything past “talks are happening.”
Selman didn’t say whether this would be a daytime fall overlay or something built specifically for Halloween Horror Nights. He didn’t say Universal Studios Hollywood or Universal Orlando Resort, or both. No timeline, no scope, no confirmation from either company.
The full panel is up on YouTube if you want to hear it in his own words.
For now it’s a showrunner talking a little faster than legal probably wanted, at the wrong company’s convention, about a Halloween idea fans have been requesting for the better part of twenty years. Springfield keeps its rides. Somebody’s about to sell you a Treehouse of Horror snack.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Laughing Place (August 14, 2026), Luke Manning’s report from the D23 Simpsons panel, Selman’s comments on the Treehouse of Horror talks, the food-first detail, and the unanswered questions about park and timing
Wikipedia (retrieved August 15, 2026), Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl opening date and Treehouse of Horror theming
Theme Park Insider (October 2009), the long-running fan campaign for a Treehouse of Horror overlay at Universal