In February, Hulu announced a new season of the long-missed Futurama—and now we know exactly when in the future the episodes will arrive. Mark your calendars for July 24th!
This is either the eighth or eleventh season of the show, depending on how you count. The math is so perplexing that I’m going to let Variety explain:
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This marks the second time the show has been brought back since it originally launched in 1999. After its initial four-season run on Fox, reruns of the show found new life as part of the Adult Swim lineup on Cartoon Network and on DVD. Four direct-to-video films were then produced, which were later re-edited into a fifth season that aired on Comedy Central starting in 2008. Comedy Central would go on to air two more seasons consisting of 26 episodes each between 2010 and 2013.
The exploits of cryogenically frozen pizza boy Philip Fry (Billy West) are set 1000 years in the future, where he pals around with an alcoholic robot named Bender (John DiMaggio) and the combat-boot-wearing Leela (Katey Sagal). The voice actors for the trio are all returning, along with Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, and David Herman.
The official synopsis says:
New viewers will be able to pick up the series from here, while long-time fans will recognize payoffs to decades-long mysteries – including developments in the epic love story of Fry and Leela, the mysterious contents of Nibbler’s litter box, the secret history of evil Robot Santa, and the whereabouts of Kif and Amy’s tadpoles. Meanwhile there’s a whole new pandemic in town as the crew explores the future of vaccines, bitcoin, cancel culture, and streaming TV.
You’re telling me we’re still going to have to talk about bitcoin and cancel culture in a thousand years? Man, that is bleak.
Original creator Matt Groening and co-developer David X. Cohen are both executive producers on the series, which premieres July 24th on Hulu. Hulu originally ordered 20 episodes, so presumably a second new season will follow.
