Inside Joseph Gordon-Levitt's 'Lifelong Dream': Voicing Mr. Burns on The Simpsons (Exclusive)

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt lived what he tells PEOPLE was a “lifelong dream” by making his debut on The Simpsons
• The superfan was “honored” to voice a young Mr. Burns in a recent episode about Lisa Simpson traveling to Springfield’s past
• Gordon-Levitt recalls finding the character in the recording studio with Yeardley Smith, who voices Lisa

For Joseph Gordon-Levitt, voicing a character on The Simpsons was “one of those lifelong dream moments.” But even in his wildest imaginings, he never considered his debut might be as one of the hit show’s most iconic characters. 

“I don't know if I could pick a character in The Simpsons television universe that I would be more honored to play than Mr. Burns,” Gordon-Levitt, 44, tells PEOPLE. Airing Feb. 12, the season 36 episode “The Past and the Furious” introduces audiences to a younger, toe-tapping, trombone-playing Montgomery Burns via the time-traveling Lisa Simpson (voiced as always by Yeardley Smith). 

“This is one of those moments,” continues the Killer Heat star, “where we all, I think in our lives at times, think to ourselves, ‘Did I do it right? Have I made mistakes? Am I okay?’ And then you get a call like this from The Simpsons saying, ‘Hey, first of all, just come on The Simpsons.’ That's a dream come true.”

Then, says Gordon-Levitt, “finding the Mr. Burns voice was just so fun.” Although the regular cast of the Matt Groening-created comedy (including Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer) doesn’t record together in person as much as they used to, Smith, 60, joined him in the studio. “To be in a room with her — and we're both wearing her headphones up against the microphones — when you hear her do Lisa, you're just like, ‘Oh, my God, I am in The Simpsons. I am living a Simpsons episode right now.’ Something uncanny happens. Her voice is so distinct.”

The whole experience was “definitely a lifelong dream,” the Emmy winner adds with a grin.

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Lisa’s foray into the past in the Mike Frank Polcino-directed, Rob LaZebnik-written episode poses a tricky existential question: is it her actions that cause Mr. Burns to grow into Springfield’s infamously greedy oligarch? 

“Mr. Burns, he's fascinating,” says Gordon-Levitt of the backstory-laden installment. “It goes to show you that oligarchs have always been around!”

Among Gordon-Levitt’s upcoming projects is a “scary, trippy” and “kind of sexy” foray into horror with Black Swan screenwriter Mark Heyman's Pendulum, costarring Phoebe Dynevor — “a great actress,” he says — and more candid writing for his new Substack, Joe’s Journal.

The Simpsons, which airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox, is streaming on Disney+.