Executive producer Al Jean has said that The Simpsons will be killing off a regular character during the new season.

Jean admitted that in a phone conference to promote the new season, Sun News is reporting.

The executive producer wouldn't say much about who it was, but just said, "I'll give you a clue that the actor playing the character won an Emmy for playing that character, but I won't say who it is."

Not an especially helpful clue since most of the major voice acting cast have won an Emmy in the past.

Jean would say that the season premiere is a spoof of Homeland, since "the producers at Homeland have offices that are literally 100 feet away. They were really helpful with DVDs."

He also mentioned that the season finale would be a Simpsons/Futurama crossover episode and they have already begun working on it, recently doing a table read.

According to The Huffington Post, some who have won an Emmy for the show are Dan Castellaneta, Kelsey Grammer, Anne Hathaway and Hank Azaria.

The show killed off Ned Flanders' wife, Maude, in season 11's episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily."

The new season of The Simpsons premieres this Sunday.

image: Fox