Image: Hulu
Over a year ago, Hulu announced it would be reviving Futurama, Matt Groening’s other very popular animated series that aired on Fox. Things were rough at first: it originally seemed like John DiMaggio wouldn’t reprise his role as Bender, to say nothing of how many times this show has ended, then been suddenly resurrected. But the performance of the revival’s first season was apparently strong enough that Hulu’s committed to keeping it around a little longer.
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Earlier in the week, the streamer revealed it renewed Futurama for two more seasons made up of 20 episodes. (Production-wise, this brings the show to 11 seasons, but 14 in terms of broadcasting due to the handling of the Comedy Central seasons.) The show is a big part of Hulu’s “Animayhem” hub focused on its adult animation and anime slate—think Solar Opposites, Chainsaw Man, Family Guy, and the like—and the revival reportedly stayed in Nielsen’s Top 10 Original Series for two-thirds of its run. At time of writing, the entire cast is slated to return as their respective characters, with no negotiations needed to be done.
The first half of Hulu’s initial 20-episode order for Futurama finished airing this past September, with the second half expected to drop sometime in 2024. When it first started, we thought it was a pretty solid return for the beloved series, and though not every episode has been a winner, enough worked to make us interested in Part 2. Who knows how long Hulu will keep the train going—the streamer’s revival of Animaniacs only lasted a handful of seasons before ending, though Futurama has a benefit of being more present in folks’ minds (thanks to its many revivals) and the pop culture cache still maintained by The Simpsons.
If you’ve been keeping up with the new Futurama season, let us know what you’ve thought of it in the comments below.
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