After more than 25 years of cancellations, revivals and apparent endings, the voice cast of Futurama has learned that saying goodbye to the Planet Express crew rarely means goodbye forever. As the animated comedy reaches the end of its latest season, longtime cast members are once again making it clear that they remain interested in continuing with the characters they have voiced across multiple eras of the series.
Season 14 concludes with the appropriately titled “Final Ending: The Last Conclusion,” bringing Hulu’s current 40-episode order to an end. The episode may sound like another farewell, but Futurama already has more adventures scheduled. Three hourlong specials are planned for 2027, giving the cast another opportunity to return to New New York even as the future of the regular series beyond those specials remains uncertain.
Futurama’s Voice Cast Still Loves Playing These Characters
Few animated series have maintained such a recognizable core voice ensemble through as many stops and starts as Futurama. Billy West continues to voice Philip J. Fry alongside characters including Professor Farnsworth and Dr. Zoidberg, while John DiMaggio remains inseparable from Bender. Katey Sagal voices Turanga Leela, with Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Phil LaMarr, Lauren Tom and David Herman continuing to populate the show’s enormous collection of recurring characters.
Recent comments from members of the cast show that the repeated revivals have not diminished their affection for the series. Rather than approaching the latest finale as an opportunity to permanently retire their characters, the performers remain enthusiastic about returning whenever another chapter of Futurama materializes.
That longevity has allowed the actors and their characters to develop together in a way few voice casts experience. West and DiMaggio have been Fry and Bender since the series debuted in 1999, while Sagal has spent the same period as Leela. The performances have survived changes in networks, production arrangements and distribution models while remaining some of the most consistent elements of the show.
For West in particular, returning to Futurama also means returning to an unusually large collection of characters. Beyond Fry, Farnsworth and Zoidberg, his roles have included Zapp Brannigan, Smitty and numerous supporting characters. DiMaggio’s Bender has similarly become one of the show’s defining voices, with the robot’s oversized personality remaining central to the chemistry between the Planet Express crew.
Another Finale in Futurama’s Unusual History
The title “Final Ending: The Last Conclusion” is particularly appropriate for a series that has already experienced several potential endings. Futurama premiered on Fox in 1999 and initially ended its television run in 2003. The franchise subsequently returned through four direct-to-video films, which were later divided into episodes, before Comedy Central brought the show back for additional seasons.
That revival eventually concluded in 2013 with “Meanwhile,” an episode deliberately constructed so that it could function as a satisfying series finale. A decade later, Hulu revived Futurama once again, reassembling much of the original voice cast and creative team for another run beginning in 2023.
Creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen have consequently had plenty of experience preparing Futurama endings without knowing whether they will actually remain endings. The latest finale arrives under similar circumstances. Hulu’s existing episodic order is concluding, but the franchise itself has already secured its next return.
The durability of the original voice cast has been a significant part of that continuity. Even when years have passed between productions, audiences have repeatedly returned to essentially the same vocal identities for Fry, Leela, Bender, Farnsworth and the rest of the crew.
Planet Express Will Fly Again in 2027
Whatever happens to the regular series, Futurama is already scheduled to return in 2027 through three hourlong specials. The first is expected to feature an Xmas story, bringing the series back to one of its recurring futuristic holiday traditions.
The show’s wider animated universe has also recently provided another opportunity for its familiar performers. Futurama crossed paths with Groening’s fantasy series Disenchantment, two productions that share several voice actors. The crossover created some particularly unusual combinations for the performers, including Billy West effectively acting opposite himself through characters originating in the two different series.
That kind of flexibility helps explain why Futurama’s ensemble remains such a major part of the show’s identity more than a quarter-century after its debut. The series has changed networks, been cancelled, revived, cancelled again and eventually reintroduced for streaming, yet the voices at the center of Planet Express have remained remarkably consistent.
“Final Ending: The Last Conclusion” may therefore close another chapter of Futurama, but it will not be the last time audiences hear its longtime cast. With the actors still enthusiastic about their characters and three specials already planned for 2027, Futurama is once again reaching an ending with another return already waiting on the other side.