Sofia Vergara will voice his sexy new teacher, Mrs Berrera, in the next season of The Simpsons.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Vergara – best known for playing Gloria in the hit sitcom Modern Family – has recorded a role in the episode titled, "Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles".

Executive producer Al Jean said the door will be open for Vergara to return, given Bart doesn't have a regular teacher. (Marcia Wallace, who voiced the wise-cracking Mrs Krabappel, died in 2013.)

The Simpson-ised version of Vergara is based on the actor herself. Mrs Berrera, however, prefers cargo shorts and sensible shirts over Gloria's figure-hugging frocks.

Bart's interest in his teacher is sparked by drinking a milk substitute laced with hormones. This causes the early onset of puberty, a bit of bum-fluff on his top lip – and a sudden interest in his teacher. (Previously, Bart generally kept his distance from women. "Why would anyone want to touch a girl's butt?" he once asked. "That's where cooties come from.")

Bart also like that Mrs Berrera "is more forgiving than Mrs Krabappel" and "pays special attention to him", according to Jean.

But it's also a rude lesson in romantic rivalry.

Principal Skinner, it seems, is hot for teacher as well.

"We thought it would be interesting if both Bart and Skinner have a crush on the same woman," Jean tells Entertainment Weekly.

"She feels Skinner is a wounded soul that she wants to take care of. She is a vet like Skinner, and that's his attraction."

Vergara, meanwhile, appears to have an attraction to adult animated comedies made by Fox: she has also voiced characters on Family Guy and The Cleveland Show.

Her episode of The Simpsons will air in season 27, which begins in the US on September 27.