Kerry Washington joins The Simpsons as Bart’s teacher

New educating faces are coming to Springfield!  Kerry Washington will be joining The Simpsons cast in this upcoming Sunday’s episode, My Octopus and a Teacher in a recurring role of Bart’s new teacher, Rayshelle Payton.

Nine years have passed since the “retirement” of Bart’s favorite teacher, Mrs. Edna Krabappel (her voice actor, Marcia Wallace died in 2013) and while the writers still grieved for Wallace, they thought now would be the right time to give Springfield Elementary a new and permanent fourth-grade teacher.

There has been a handful of notable substitutes (Willem Defoe, Sofia Vergara, and Flanders respectfully),  trying to fill in for Mrs. Krabappel’s classroom and all attempting to break through Bart, which hasn’t been successful for either sub.  However, Bart may change his problematic behavior, thanks to Mrs. Payton.

In a release by Entertainment Weekly, Kerry Washington revealed just how she won the part of Rayshelle Payton through the power of Twitter.  During the uptick of the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020, Washington tweeted that she was “available for animation” after both Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer backed away from voicing characters of color on The Simpsons.

Co-executive producer Carolyn Omine (who wrote this episode) saw her tweet and decided that Washington would be the perfect fit for the new teacher.  The character was centralized around Washington, which gave her a more personal touch, and a chance to extend her comedic style.  Additionally, before becoming an actress, Washington was a teacher in the NYC public school system, so she would be taking her knowledge of the “sacred profession” which she calls it, into comedic gold on the show.

And she’s also a The Simpsons fan.

She shared with EW about Mrs. Payton:

"“She’s a great teacher.  But like all the best teachers, she knows that her students have just as much to teach her as she has to teach them. And teaching Bart is a job filled with growth opportunities.”"

Will Bart’s new teacher be as successful in getting through Bart, just like Mrs. Krabappel?  She just might. But she won’t be at all like Mrs. Krabappel.  While Mrs. Krabappel was ‘cynical’ and brash, she was also dedicated to her work in reaching her students, including Bart.  Her time on the show is a legacy and therefore missed.  Yet, Mrs. Payton will offer a new way of teaching in the classroom and will continue the tradition of getting Bart to open up.

You can watch a sneak peek through Entertainment Weekly of the new episode and a glimpse of Kerry as Mrs. Payton through the promo.