If you were watching “The Simpsons” back in 2000, you likely remember the out-of-left-field death of Maude Flanders: the devout, ultra-wholesome wife of Springfield’s favorite goody-two-shoes, Ned Flanders — one of the show’s best characters.
Maude’s sudden demise occurred in Season 11, Episode 14, titled “Alone Again, Natura-Diddly.” While attending a car race with her family, Maude is struck by a flurry of t-shirt cannons meant for Homer Simpson, who bends over to pick up a bobby pin. Maude — who was just returning from fetching her family some hotdogs — loses her balance and topples off the grandstands, leaving Ned a single-dad widower.
According to voice actor Maggie Roswell, Maude wasn’t written out because of some random creative choice by the writers — it actually stems from a pay dispute with Fox. Up until Season 10, Roswell had been travelling from Denver to Los Angeles twice a week to record her dialogue, and the recurring airfares were putting a major dent in the wallet.
“Well, I used to fly into L.A. on Thursday and fly back that night, and do that on Monday again,” Roswell recalled in a 2011 interview with The Denver Post. “It was getting to be too much, too expensive, they wouldn’t give me a raise, so I quit on the 10th year. Then they killed my character, Maude Flanders. The cast was as shocked about my death as I was.”
Maggie Roswell worked things out with Fox and returned to the Simpson’s during Season 13
At the time, Roswell was making roughly $1,500 to $2,000 per episode. She requested an increase to $6,000, but Fox countered with a meager $150 bump, according to an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “I was part of the backbone of ‘The Simpsons,’ and I didn’t think [the requested raise] was exorbitant,” Roswell explained to the outlet in February 2000. “I wasn’t asking for what the other cast members make. I was just trying to recoup all the costs I had in travel. If they’d flown me in, I’d still be working.”
Luckily for fans of “The Simpsons” — the longest running show on TV — time heals old studio wounds. Roswell eventually returned to the show during Season 14 after coming to an agreement with Fox. While Maude remained officially dead, Roswell reprised her other Springfield roles — including Helen Lovejoy, Luann Van Houten, and Miss Hoover (during her absence, Marcia Mitzman Gaven filled in for those roles). But we didn’t exactly see the last of Maude though. The character went on to make occasional surprise returns, reappearing as a ghost or as herself in flashbacks.
Fast forward to today, and Roswell is still a vital part of the historic animated comedy as it reaches its 38th season this fall. Best of all, technology solved her original problem. As she told The Denver Post, she transitioned to recording her lines via a phone patch from the comfort of her own home, adding, “I could not be more grateful… I am living the life.”
