These facts about Futurama may surprise even longtime fans of the animated series. Just like Fox's other incredibly popular animated series The Simpsons, their former hit show Futurama was created by Matt Groening. The series made its debut in 1999 and ran for four seasons on the network before being cancelled, but the fandom surrounding Futurama helped keep it alive. Several direct-to-video movies were made before Comedy Central bought those adventures in 2009 and aired them as 16 "new" episodes instead.
Comedy Central continued to keep Futurama alive after the success of this new fifth season, and ordered two more seasons that allowed the series to have its finale in 2013. The success of the series throughout its various iterations is undeniable, as it was a multiple time Annie and Emmy winner. Even though Futurama has been off the air for over five years now, there's still some elements to its history, characters, and story that may surprise fans.
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The latest Screen Rant video (featured at the top of this post) is dedicated to Futurama and takes a look at 25 of these facts. Billy West's voice is well known by fans of the show thanks to his multiple roles, but some may be surprised by some of the other famous characters his voice is responsible for helping create. Some may also be surprised to learn that West's biggest Futurama role as lead Phillip Fry was modeled after actor James Dean. For more facts, check out the full video above.
The somewhat turbulent history of Futurama's production account for a few of the mentioned facts, and it's a credit to the show that it never went too far off the rails despite the trouble it encountered. Switching networks is never an easy task, especially when the transition begins through cutting down movies into separate episodes. Thanks to the creative team assembled by Groening, Futurama was able to withstand all the twists and turns that came its way.
Even though Futurama does not appear to have another chance to return, the universe it created continues to live on. Groening launched his Netflix series Disenchantment last year, and it didn't take long for fans of his previous work to catch an Easter egg that confirms it takes place in the Futurama universe. With that show returning for a second season sometime in 2019, maybe Groening will continue to work in connections to Futurama in the future.