'Futurama' is the show that refuses to die

Stop us if you've heard this one before: "Futurama" is back.

The beloved animated series has once again returned, this time on Hulu, despite airing its supposedly final episode in 2013. But "Futurama," in which a pizza delivery boy is accidentally cryogenically frozen and wakes up 1,000 years in the future, is no stranger to cheating death. Before this latest resurrection, the show was canceled by multiple networks and seemingly wrapped up not once, but four separate times.

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Created by Matt Groening, "Futurama" premiered on Fox on March 28, 1999, while Groening's other animated series, a little show called "The Simpsons," was in the middle of its tenth season. The network had "been begging me for years for another show," Groening told Mother Jones. He developed the idea for "Futurama" with David X. Cohen, a "Simpsons" writer with whom he shared a passion for science fiction. The two came to their pitch meeting equipped with a thick "binder" of ideas, Cohen recalled in 2013.

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"They were so excited, they said, 'We're going to order this series on the spot,'" Cohen said. "And as we've said many times, that was the last good meeting we had."

For one, Groening told Mother Jones that Fox almost immediately "freaked out and were afraid the show was too dark and mean-spirited," leading to many "pointless battles." The network "thought it was going to be bland and peppy like 'The Jetsons,'" he told the Los Angeles Times. Throughout the series' run on Fox, its time slot also changed numerous times, and Groening felt the network never truly supported it. "It was frustrating to have a show on Fox at 7 on Sunday night when Fox's slogan was 'The fun begins at 8!'" Groening told Entertainment Weekly in 2004. "I got the feeling that they didn't even realize we were on the schedule."

After four seasons, Fox opted not to pick up "Futurama" for additional episodes, so on Aug. 10, 2003, it aired an apparent series finale, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings." In the subsequent years, there were many calls from fans to bring the show back, though, and it performed well in reruns.

"The network head actively banished us to reruns on cable TV and Adult Swim on Cartoon Network in the middle of the night, back in the mid-2000s," Cohen told Lightspeed Magazine. "Then the ratings started going up and were beating the late-night talk shows, and Fox was very surprised."

After Comedy Central subsequently expressed interest in airing the show, four straight-to-DVD films were ordered, which were split into 16 episodes to air on the network. But it wasn't clear at the time whether these movies would be it for the series, so the final installment, "Into the Wild Green Yonder," was treated as another series finale.

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This time, though, the show's hibernation didn't last long. "Into the Wild Green Yonder" hit DVD in February 2009, and by June of that year, Comedy Central announced it would revive "Futurama" properly for two more seasons.

By 2011, the episode "Overclockwise" was written as yet another potential series finale, as the show had not yet been renewed at that point. "Futurama" did continue after that, but not for long, as in 2013, Comedy Central became the latest network to pull the plug. "'Futurama' Canceled for Third Time," The Hollywood Reporter's headline read, and the publication noted the show had "not been the ratings performer it once was."

So "Futurama" aired its fourth series finale, "Meanwhile," on Sept. 4, 2013, and this was arguably the most conclusive yet. "We've been in this situation before," Groening said in a live special before the finale aired. "It's probably over, but we've said that before, too."

Reader, it was not over. It took nearly a decade, but in February 2022, "Futurama" was once again revived, as Hulu ordered 20 new episodes with Groening and Cohen both returning. "It's a true honor to announce the triumphant return of 'Futurama' one more time before we get canceled abruptly again," Groening joked.

But this being "Futurama," it was only appropriate that there would be one more roadblock, as John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, was initially not involved in the revival due to a salary dispute. The show looked set to recast his character, but at the last minute, DiMaggio signed on. "Trying to get money out of Disney is like trying to get blood from a stone — you ain't gonna get it!" he said, per Slashfilm.

The series' return to Hulu on July 24 also means that at some point in the future, "Futurama" will air a fifth series finale. But never count out a comeback, as this is the kind of show that's never truly canceled. It's merely cryogenically frozen.