Futurama team at Comic-Con 2025: Cast surprises fans with table reads, reveals change in release strategy

The cast of Futurama were at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 to commemorate the show's production history, talk about new episodes and a new release format in the upcoming season, set to drop on September 15, 2025.

Regular cast members Billy West, John DiMaggio, Lauren Tom, Maurice LaMarche, and Phil LaMarr were present at the panel with co-creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. The panel gave a behind-the-scenes look into a show that has been canceled, revived, and resided multiple times since it started.

According to Variety, Cohen and Groening discussed the journey the show at the panel, and spoke of how the show's writers go into every new season hoping that this will be the final season. Cohen said,

"We are going to work that gold mine a little bit more next year, 2026"

Futurama has maintained an adaptable narrative while moving from Fox to Comedy Central, and later Hulu.

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Season 13 premiere and binge format

Hulu announced that Futurama Season 13 will be released on September 15, 2025. Breaking from its past weekly release format, all 10 episodes will be released together this time, so that fans can binge-watch the season. The series will also broadcast weekly on FFX. Cohen said,

"This an all-new system we’re going to test out this year, the 10 episode binge-a-thon on September 15. So we’re just giving you some instructions here, in case you’ve forgotten… You just sit down and you watch each episode eight times!"

The actors performed a live table reading of Season 13 for guests, giving a preview of the tone and direction of the upcoming shows. Some of the suggested themes include time travel, as characters are transported back and forth over centuries, although plotlines were not mentioned.

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Parody of true crime and Bender's starring role

One of the highlights of the show this time is that it will parody true crime television, and its star will be Bender. According to Variety, the show's Season 13 logline says,

"Bender is rampaging out of control! A volcano is about to explode! Fry confronts a rival for Leela’s love! And Dr. Zoidberg is rising up to heaven?! The excitement might be too much! You’ve been warned… it’s an all new season of ‘Futurama’!”

This episode continues the show's tradition of utilizing science fiction and popular media inference in tackling types of stories, though creators avoided giving the show the same label or branding itself as topical.

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Guest stars and recurring characters

Although the full roster of guest stars has yet to be revealed, Cohen disclosed that NBA All-Star Victor Wembanyama would guest-star in one of the episodes.

Futurama's policy of casting guest voices across sources spanning scientists, actors, and celebrities, is a time-tested one. The producers have assured that the returning characters will be included in the narrative.

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Hulu renewed Futurama for Seasons 13 and 14 in November 2023, securing its continuation through at least 2026. However, the team confirmed that there is no guarantee of renewal beyond Season 14. As per Variety, Hulu noted,

“Futurama” was among the top 10 streaming originals of 2024. Hulu announced in November 2023 that “Futurama” had been renewed for two more seasons, taking it through Season 14 in 2026. (Yes, there’s plenty of confusion about season counts for “Futurama,” thanks to both those DVD releases, and then Comedy Central’s move to split seasons into multiple sub-seasons."

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The Futurama panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 discussed the show's unconventional production path, writing process, and planned premiere of its new season.

With September's full-season drop and plans to weather it out until 2026, the team seems committed to putting out new episodes that follow the structure and tone that the show has established, regardless of whether or not it gets renewed.

Also read: Futurama Season 13: Release date news, streaming details, cast details, and more about next installment of animated series