Harry Shearer, the comic actor and voice of two of the Simpsons’ most iconic characters, is returning to the show for it’s 27th season after announcing he was leaving in May.

Known as the voice of Homer Simpson’s bumbling and cheery neighbour Ned Flanders and his Machiavellian boss Mr Burns, Shearer had previously announced that he was leaving the cartoon claiming that he wanted "the freedom to do other work".

However, a tweet sent last night confirmed that ‘all principal cast members of #TheSimpsons have now been signed.’

We are extremely pleased to announce that all principal cast members of #TheSimpsons have now been signed. Woo Hoo! pic.twitter.com/pRHW8WJ2oY

— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) July 7, 2015

It had been reported that the characters voiced by Shearer – which alongside Ned Flanders and Mr Burns include Seymour Skinner, Lenny, Dr. Hibbert, Kent Brockman, Reverend Lovejoy and Otto - would not be retired and the show's executive producer, Al Jean, had planned to find new actors to voice these characters. Although production of Series 27 started without Shearer, his new deal with the Fox network was completed in time to prevent his absence from being significantly noted.

Al Jean issued a statement on Twitter saying he was ‘truly glad he [Shearer] is returning to the show’.