- Original voice actor Pamela Hayden retired last year
- 80s rock singer is the new voice of Millhouse
- Voice features in season finale, Estranger Things
The Simpsons have found a new voice actor for their iconic character Milhouse Van Houten, following Pamela Hayden’s departure.
Hayden announced her retirement from voicing the blue-haired nerd last year, having provided his voice on the sitcom for 35 years – as well as other Springfield residents like Jimbo Jones, Rod Flanders, and Malibu Stacy.
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Speaking to The New York Times, Hayden admitted it will feel “weird” not being Milhouse’s voice and said she hopes his new voice actor will “bring their own essence to it, and their own creativity and creative choices”.
That task is now falling to singer Kelly Macleod, who as reported by Entertainment Weekly, has officially been named as the new voice of Milhouse
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Macleod fronted the rock band Private Life, who were best known for their 1990 hit Touch Me, which appeared in Wayne’s World when Crucial Taunt performed a live cover of it.
Macleod has appeared in The Simpsons before
Macleod is no stranger to The Simpsons, having appeared on the show singing the song Two Badges, One Mind in 2022 in the season 33 episode Bart the Cool Kid. The Weeknd and Michael Rapaport also made guest appearances in the episode.
EW reveals that Macleod’s voice-acting debut as Milhouse will take place during Sunday’s season finale, in an episode titled Estranger Things.
She only provides one line in the segment for the beloved character, in a brief scene set in the future with Bart and Lisa showing them all grown up.
According to the episode’s official description: “When Bart & Lisa stop watching Itchy & Scratchy together, Marge fears that they’ll start to drift apart… but she has no idea how bad things are about to get!”
The finale will air on 18 May at 8 p. m. EST on Fox.
Millhouse’s debut
Milhouse first appeared on The Simpsons way back in December 1988, a year before the show even premiered. He featured alongside Bart in a Butterfinger commercial. At that time, The Simpsons was still just a series of segments on The Tracey Ullman Show.
He was named after former U.S. President Richard Milhous Nixon and has been a part of the cartoon series since its debut episode, a Christmas special called Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, which aired on 17 December 1989.