‘Futurama’ Star John DiMaggio Seems To Be As Livid As Fans Are That He’s Not Returning For The Hulu Revival

On Wednesday there was good and bad news: Futurama was once again returning, this time to Hulu, much as Animaniacs did in 2020. But there was a catch: It will be without one of its key voice talents. John DiMaggio, the voice acting legend who played the beloved sci-fi cartoon’s foul-mouthed, alcoholic robot Bender, was reportedly not returning. The reason was allegedly stalled negotiations between he and the studio that produces the show. Still, there was hope that something could work out and the role wouldn’t have to be recast after all.

While DiMaggio hasn’t publicly commented on the dispute, he did do the next best thing: As caught by Deadline, he re-tweeted lots of Futurama fans miffed that he wasn’t returning.

— tom42 (@go2tom42) February 9, 2022

“Without @TheJohnDiMaggio #Futurama & @hulu can bite my metal shiny ass,” one person commented, alluding to one of Bender’s favorite catchphrases. Another wrote that, without DiMaggio, “this isn’t good news, everyone,” this one referencing something said by another character, Professor Farnsworth, voiced by Billy West.

— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) February 9, 2022

The good news is that every other major voice actor save DiMaggio was coming back, including West, who voices Philip J. Fry, the late ‘90s pizza delivery man who winds up unwittingly frozen for 1,000 years, awakening in a much-changed future. Ditto Katey Segal (Turanga Leela), Lauren Tom (Amy Wong), Phil La Marr (Hermes Conrad), and more.

But the lack of DiMaggio leaves a gaping hole, and it’s hard to imagine anyone summoning the right alchemy that he brought to the role of the show’s most gleefully caustic character. Here are some more tweets the actor nudgingly tweeted, intimating that he agrees.

— Robb (@BuckyUnderbelly) February 9, 2022

Ok I take it back… I WAS happy till I saw this. I'm sorry but there is only one person who can voice Bender and that's @TheJohnDiMaggio pic.twitter.com/IvKucLvmjv