So, to give you the rundown on the many lives of “Futurama”: the series debuted in March 1999 and only lasted for four seasons in its initial run on Fox, going off the air in 2003. The makers of “Futurama,” however, were able to strike some kind of deal and managed to return in a limited capacity, in the form of four separate hour-and-a-half movies, released first on home video and then split up into four episodes apiece. The four films essentially count as the show’s fifth season, but weren’t followed up immediately by a new season. Birth, death, rebirth, redeath.
In 2010, however, “Futurama” merrily pranced over to Comedy Central for its sixth season, resurrected again. The show aired new episodes on that station through 2013. Then it was canceled yet again.
And then, in 2023, “Futurama” found itself lurching back to life for a fourth run, thanks to a deal with Hulu. Since then, the series has had four excellent seasons on the network. Its most recent season at the time of writing, counted as the show’s 14th, aired its final episode on September 28, 2026. The title of that episode is “Final Ending: The Last Conclusion,” which is a clear sign that “Futurama” might finally be experiencing its final, final death, 25 years after its debut. Another obvious sign is that, according to an article in Variety, there are no plans for a 15th season. Is this the end, end, end, END for “Futurama”?
Show co-creator Matt Groening doesn’t think so. In that same Variety article, Groening was asked about the future of “Futurama.” Given the show’s track record, he wasn’t too concerned with the finality of Season 14’s last episode. He’s been through this four times now, and cancellation seems to be nothing for an undying series like “Futurama,” which remains one of TV’s most unexpected comfort shows.
Will Futurama return? Matt Groening thinks so
On the matter of “Futurama” not returning for a 15th season, Matt Groening was calmly defiant, saying:
“They can put us in a coffin. They can nail the lid shut, but they can’t bury us. We will rise again. […] I guess I’m not too worried.”
And he has no reason to be. The actors all seem game, and the writing remains sharp, even into the 14th season. Indeed, Season 14 seems to have given the show a second wind, making it slicker and funnier and more topical than it’s ever been. And it sounds like Groening and the show’s writers have a lot more dilithium crystals left in their warp intermix chambers, and are eager to get back to work … wherever it may be. Groening continued:
“The thing about ‘Is Futurama coming to an end?’ … Well, we’ve come to an end many times before. We make a joke about it with the season finale. It’s redundantly, fatalistically titled. […] I think we have a whistling-past-the-graveyard attitude these days because we’ve been in this situation many times before. We have lots more stories to tell. The animators and the actors and the writers all would love to do more stories and we’ll see. You never know.”
At this point in its life, it would be surprising if “Futurama” actually did stay dead. The show’s fans are likely completely unconcerned with this most recent development, knowing that some other streaming service will pick up the show again soon enough. The show’s creators have said nothing about this, but I personally wouldn’t even rule out a “Futurama” theatrical feature at some point. Nothing will kill this show. “Futurama” has ended multiple times prior, and each ending is about the same thing.
Futurama has had, techincally, six series finales
And, despite what clearly looks like the end of another run, “Futurama” will still take a few more steps forward with a series of three additional specials, announced at San Diego Comic-Con and covered by a separate article in Variety. The specials, dubbed “XXXL-Sized,” will air in 2027 on Hulu, with one of them being a Christmas special. Or Xmas special. By the 3000s, when “Futurama” takes place, “Christmas” will be supplanted by Xmas.
Series co-creator David X. Cohen told the “The Making Of” podcast that the end of the show’s 14th season is actually the sixth time he and his team of writers have had to write a “finale” episode for the series:
“When we were writing this season finale, from our point of view, it could have been the series finale and that is a situation that we have been in probably more than any other show in history. […] The one that’s going to be on shortly is our sixth series finale, in the sense again that at the time we wrote it might be, and we are now currently working on the seventh series finale.”
Groening was asked what he and the “Futurama” writers might do if the show never comes back, and he just said, “We’ll do something else.” Groening also created the animated series “Disenchantment,” a comedy/fantasy show that, last week, crossed over with “Futurama.” Additionally, “The Simpsons” is still on the air after 495 seasons, so Groening has a lot of talented writers he can talk to about his “something else.” As Luke Skywalker once said, no one’s ever really gone.
We’ll keep writing articles about the 27 best “Futurama” episodes ad infinitum.
