At New York Comic-Con 2024, Futurama fans were treated to exciting announcements and a sneak peek of what’s to come in Season 13. Hosted by executive producer Lee Supercinski, the panel featured some of the most iconic voices and creative minds behind the show, including series creator Matt Groening, executive producer Claudia Katz, supervising director Peter Avanzino, and voice actors Billy West (Fry) and John DiMaggio (Bender). The panel began with a drawing contest between Peter Avanzino and Matt Groening, accompanied by a few retrospective clips. The majority of the panel was an audience Q&A, with fans receiving the drawings that were produced at the top of the panel.
With ten all-new episodes currently streaming on Hulu, the creative team expressed their excitement for this latest chapter, promising a continuation of the clever humor that blends intellectual jokes with classic lowbrow comedy that fans have come to love in the upcoming 13th season. The panel ended with an animatic look at the opening sequence of the Season 13 premiere, which will be titled “Destroy Tall Monsters.” It featured the return of The Robot Devil. “We’ve got so many great episodes in the works for next season,” Matt Geoening shared, “and I can't remember a single one.”
During a question about favorite episodes, Claudia Katz did tease that hers change all the time. “Pete just finished an animatic for next season that I think is one of my favorite episodes ever,” she shared. “It’s really great. It could be a movie. It's so smart, it's so fun – it’s definitely one of my new favorites.”
Being a Futurama fan has been a rollercoaster ride, with the show canceled by Fox, picked up by Comedy Central, canceled again, and now revived on Hulu. But in talking about the history of Futurama, Matt Groening had to talk about another show – Disenchantment. He explained that both shows share the same animation studio, Rough Draft Studios, and many of the same voice actors.
“By the way, Disenchantment, for those of you who don’t know, is a show on Netflix that is 50 episodes long. It’s really good,” Groening said. “I’ve never talked about it on stage because the only time I could was during the writer's strike when I was forbidden to talk about it. So, this is me promoting a show that’s no longer producing new episodes.”
Groening went on to share that Disenchantment came about during a period when Futurama had been canceled. “I love working with these people. I chose to work with these people again, and then we got to do Futurama again. And that was great,” he added, highlighting his joy in returning to the Futurama universe with the same creative team.
Matt Groening also took a moment to plug two books. The first was The Art of Futurama, a deluxe hardcover book coming November 12th that celebrates the show’s visual development. The other, recently released, was Futurama Presents: Bender’s Guide to Life: By me, Bender! John DiMaggio opened up a page and read aloud from it in character as Bender.
During the Q&A, a fan asked the voice actors for their favorite episode centered around their character. Billy West named The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings as his favorite Fry episode, while John DiMaggio chose Amazon Women in the Mood for Bender. Supervising director Peter Avanzino also shared that The Late Philip J. Fry was his favorite episode to direct.
Although Futurama has faced multiple cancellations and revivals, the mood at the panel was optimistic about the future. Matt Groening hinted that there are many more stories left to tell, and the team seemed enthusiastic about continuing to explore new adventures for Fry, Leela, Bender, and the rest of the crew. With the ongoing support of both fans and creators, Futurama seems poised to keep delivering the laughs for years to come.
With new episodes streaming and Season 13 on the way, Futurama remains as fresh and funny as ever. The excitement shared at the NYCC 2024 panel reassures fans that the show’s best days are far from over. And with the upcoming release of The Art of Futurama, fans can continue to explore the genius behind the show's timeless appeal.
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