Hannibal Buress is set to guest star in "The Simpsons"

Stars on 'Simpsons': How do you keep things fresh when you've been on the air for over three decades?

That is both the enviable and unenviable position in which the creative team behind "The Simpsons" now finds itself -- "enviable" because it's the longest-running scripted show of all time and "unenviable" because it puts a heck of a lot of pressure on the writers.

Luckily, celebrity guest stars have been spicing things up since Tony Bennett "appeared" as himself in Season 2 (although technically, Marcia Wallace, who voiced Edna Krabappel, was the first to be credited as a guest star).

You can count on Season 32 to keep this long-standing tradition alive by featuring a few famous names, er, voices, including singer/actor Ben Platt ("The Politician"), standup comedian Hannibal Buress and the world-traveling "Monty Python" legend Sir Michael Palin. "Stranger Things" star David Harbour is also on board as the voice of an alternate version of Mr. Burns, as is Olivia Colman ("The Crown") as a femme fatale.

They'll be adding their names to a very long list of guest stars -- in fact, "The Simpsons" holds the Guinness World Record for Most Guest Stars Featured in an Animated TV Series, with a total of 810 celebrity cameos as of April 22, 2020. And a few of those guest stars, notably Kelsey Grammer ("Frasier") and Anne Hathaway ("The Dark Knight Rises," 2012), even won an Emmy for their vocal work on the series.

During a Comic-Con@Home panel, writer David Selman was especially excited about Palin, who has already recorded his lines. Selman described him as the guest "who I always wanted to get and who we finally did get." Meanwhile, showrunner Al Jean teased that another "Python" member had passed on the opportunity, though he declined to name the person. (Given that Terry Jones died earlier this year, Graham Chapman died in 1989 and Eric Idle has already made an appearance, it stands to reason it was either Terry Gilliam or John Cleese.)

The vaccine race: While the world waits for a safe and effective vaccine to safeguard us against COVID-19, the pharmaceutical race has inspired at least one potential TV project.

"Succession" executive producer Adam McKay and HBO appear to be teaming up for a new limited series based on the book "The First Show," written by New York Times and The Atlantic writer Brendan Borrell, who has been covering vaccine trials for a number of different publications.

The book pulls back the curtain on the companies and individuals who are doing everything they can to find a vaccine that works. It also delves into the science behind it all and the risk of protectionism that could prevent equal access.

The "Untitled Vaccine Project" will be produced by McKay's Hyperobject Industries, which was launched last year after his amicable split with longtime producing partner Will Ferrell ("Saturday Night Live"). It's also part of McKay's five-year, first-look deal with HBO; his first project under that deal was another limited series centered on the Jeffrey Epstein case, while his 1980s L.A. Lakers drama (starring John C. Reilly, "Holmes & Watson," 2018) is still in the works. There's also a possible TV adaptation of the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" and a climate change-themed anthology series, "The Uninhabitable Earth."

As for "Succession," the pandemic-related shutdown has forced fans to wait a lot longer to witness the fallout from the Season 2 finale, after Kendall (Jeremy Strong, "The Gentlemen," 2019) implicated his father in the cruise ship scandal. Season 3 was only in pre-production when Hollywood was placed on hiatus, but once things resume and production is completed, expect more spectacular backstabbing on screen.

Mob time: If you've ever dreamed of a TV show that combines "The Sopranos" with "Goodfellas," you may soon get your wish.

Terence Winter, who won four Emmys and three Writer's Guild of America Awards during his time as writer/executive producer of "The Sopranos," is teaming up with "Goodfelllas" writer Nicholas Pileggi to bring a new mob drama to Showtime. Winter will pen the screenplay based on Pileggi's in-depth historical overview of organized crime and corruption in America, as seen through the eyes of a Mafia family. Hollywood mega-producer Brian Grazer ("Arrested Development") will also serve as executive producer.

It's a world that both Winter and Pileggi know well. Winter, who wrote more than a quarter of all "The Sopranos" episodes, was the creator and executive producer of HBO's period mob drama, "Boardwalk Empire." He's also working on an upcoming crime drama, "Tokyo Underworld," though his work on non-mob dramas is equally impressive: his screenplay for the 2013 film "The Wolf of Wall Street" earned him an Oscar nomination; he co-created the HBO series "Vinyl" with Mick Jagger, Martin Scorsese and Rich Cohen; and he's working on a DC drama set in Gotham City.

As for Pileggi, his "Goodfellas" screenplay earned him (and co-writer/director Martin Scorsese) an Oscar nomination and was based on his book "Wiseguy." They teamed up again to write the script for the 1995 film "Casino," which was based on another of Pileggi's books, and Pileggi co-created the CBS series "Vegas."