Futurama Lives, as Entire Cast Returns in First Trailer for Hulu Reboot

It’s been a decade now since the last time we said goodbye to Matt Groening’s Futurama, the beloved sci-fi comedy that easily stands as the writer’s most popular work of the post-Simpsons era. The Comedy Central version of the show went off the air in 2013, but that was of course already a reboot–the original four seasons aired on Fox between 1999-2002, being underappreciated in its time before gaining popularity in syndication in the years that followed. Many of us fell in love with Futurama through those endless reruns on cable TV, but now the series is preparing for a new genesis in the streaming world, thanks to Hulu. The first trailer for the rebooted Futurama can be seen below, with the series hitting the streamer on July 24, 2023.

This will be either the eighth or eleventh season of Futurama, depending on how one keeps count, as the feature-length films produced after the first series ended are occasionally considered full seasons of the show. Regardless, here’s the official synopsis of the reboot:

After a brief ten-year hiatus, Futurama has crawled triumphantly from the cryogenic tube, its full original cast and satirical spirit intact. The ten all-new episodes of season eleven have something for everyone. 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.

Oh yeah, we’re definitely mining some nostalgia here. It certainly feels like this iteration of the show is attempting to go back and replicate nearly everything fans still love and reference about the original series, right down to bit players like the colony of worms that once invaded Fry’s colon after some bad truck stop egg salad. At least the voices of the characters sound more or less intact, mercifully avoiding the tiredness and unnatural delivery that has become an expected part of new Simpsons episodes for the last decade. We’re also not sure how to feel exactly about the series seemingly making a point of falling back on topical humor, with jokes clearly directed at the COVID-19 pandemic, cryptocurrency and even the popularity of Frank Herbert’s Dune following its big-screen adaptation. Hopefully, this version of Futurama can prove it still has some reason to exist, beyond brand recognition.