Futurama. One of the most influential and popular animated sitcoms of its time. One so popular that it isn’t a rarity to find someone who tattooed one of its characters on their body, and you can be certain to see at least a few Benders at any Comic-con even years after the series ended in 2013. It is definitely one of my favorites when it comes to animated shows, which is why it pains me to see it coming back. Yes, it pains me to see it being revived. In fact, there are many reasons why bringing back the show doesn’t make sense. Even Futurama fans such as myself wouldn’t want to see the beloved show rebooted.

Futurama captured success with its clever humor, unique concept, and loveable characters. Like most shows, the first couple of seasons had some rough points, but it really caught its stride around the end of season two. After that, the show sailed smoothly quality-wise, but ran into a lot of problems staying on the air. For a show that only had seven seasons, it technically ran for 14 years because of several intermittent cancellations, but this last time really felt like the end. 

 One might argue that because Futurama was canceled and rebooted so many times that this new revival fittingly continues the past trend, but the last episode of the previous season really felt like a proper ending. It seemed the show came to a complete ending with Fry and Leila, the show’s two main characters, growing old together only to make the choice to reset everything on the Futurama timeline, and in a literal sense, start the whole show over. That is why when the last episode aired the very first episode aired directly after so as to create a cycle. It created a perfect sense of closure, making it unnecessary to bring back the show.

Continuity is also a very big part of Futurama; there is never a question left unanswered when it comes to the plot. Every single time the series was canceled the creators were able to make a clever excuse to keep the feeling of continuity when it came back. But the way the series ended 9 years ago it seems almost impossible to do so. The series reset itself; there is no way to escape the ending besides entirely ignoring it, which would not be true to the show. 

It isn’t a good sign when one of the stars of your show is reluctant to come back. John DiMaggio, the voice of the show’s breakout character Bender, and various side characters almost did not return for the revival. It doesn’t give a good look for the new season when your star is hesitant to return. To me, that means that he either thought it was a bad idea, or he thought that the script wasn’t strong enough to warrant bringing it back. Even if  DiMaggio just didn’t feel like returning, I still think it is a sign that the show has run its course. 

The revival will air on Hulu sometime in 2023, and no matter my doubts, I am still going to watch it. There is no show like it, and there will never be a show like it, which is why I can understand the desire for revival, but I think they should have left it alone for the sake of the show’s reputation. It’s very clear to me that I am in the minority for the fanbase with this opinion, but I stand by it. Futurama needs to stay gone.