Futuramaworks with a lot of characters and the main cast of seven Planet Express members: Fry, Leela, Bender, Professor Farnsworth, Hermes, Amy, and Zoidberg. Each has their own distinct personality, which is the reason why fans love them. Over its 140 episodes and seven seasons, the show has had a wide variety of secondary characters that are either one-offs, related to an existing character, or continuously make an appearance throughout. WhenFuturamamade its return in 2010, its next two seasons would provide some amazing backstory episodes for Hermes, Bender, Professor Farnsworth, and Zoidberg. These episodes managed to pull at the heartstrings and answered questions about certain characters' origins and their association with Planet Express.
Now thatFuturamais back, it’s time to think about where the show will go while keeping itself entertaining and relevant. The show doesn’t want to create character stories for the sake of itlike the latestSimpsonsseason. Every timeFuturamahasgone off the air, it has managed to end its series well, usually involving Fry winning Leela’s heart. Obviously, a lot of the new series focusing will be around Fry, Leela, and Bender as they are the main characters, but there are some characters that viewers know very little about and deserve some time in the spotlight.
RELATED:Sci-Fi Shows With The Best Opening Episodes
The Robots
Robotic characters such as Beelzebot, Roberto, and Hedonism Bot provide great laughs whenever they appear in an episode, thanks to each character’s eccentric personality. Roberto is one of the more interesting characters due to his insanity. Despite the episode “Bender’s Game” revealing he was built for the purpose of being an insane robot, it would be intriguing to see where the madness first began. Maybe Roberto has had enough after undergoing a personality change, seeing as he dies or is destroyed a lot and somehow is always rebuilt.
A window into Hedonism Bot’s world would be insightful to the viewer perhaps taking Planet Express to a world of riches. On the other hand, the origins of how the Robot Devil Beelzebot came to be would create a new look at robot origins and whether his inception is aligned with that of other robots.
New Characters Arriving, Old Ones Leaving — What Can We Expect To See?
The only character from the show’s main roster that fans haven’t seen in the past is Amy. This is mainly due to the fact she is quite young, and her parents usually mention her youth. Fans have seen plenty of background from Fry and Leela, so it does require new characters or secondary ones to open up theFuturamauniverse further. Perhaps this would be a good chance to finally meet Amy onscreen.
Death has always been an obscure subject inFuturamaandin a lot of animated showsdue to lack of continuity, the popularity of the character, or the fact that there’s no need to kill anyone off. Some shows arereally good at character deaths.If a voice actor dies, it is usually respectful to remove the character(s) they played.Futurama’ssmall voice cast hasn’t had that situation, and it seems in the world ofFuturama,most characters can’t die without suicide booths. Sure, robots have died, but it would be a stand-out moment for the show ifFuturamalost a character the fans knew well.
This likely wouldn’t be one of the main characters, but someone close to them. The thematics of the episode could relate to age in terms of the professor and robots, Fry’s past, and the effect this death have on the characters. In episodes like “The Sting,” there have been some moving moments around death, and whileFuturamahas more continuity than a lot of other shows, it seems to struggle with the concept of killing off a character.
Source:Twitter
Spotlighting Secondary Characters
One member of Planet Express is majorly overlooked as a background character: Scruffy, the janitor. Scruffy appeared out of nowhere when the show was well established, and usually makes an appearance for a cheap comment or to flick through dirty magazines. Maybe it’s time for the show to bring Scruffy forward, as somecharacters do take time to develop. The list of secondary characters could go on forever and look at characters like Morbo the news presenter, Clamps the gangster, or even Hypnotoad. All of these characters create stand-out moments when they appear in episodes, but the fact that they are used briefly or as small secondary characters gives them their hilarity and prevents over-saturation of humor.
There is no doubtFuturamawill bring forth a lot of established secondary characters such as Zapp Brannigan, Nixon, Kif, Mom, and Nibbler. There’s a reason these characters come back: they help develop the show when it involves space, enemies, time travel, and generally setting up a competition for Planet Express. Maybe it’s time Nixon faces a new political rival, or Mom requires the help of Professor Farnsworth. While the show does need to evolve with new characters and storylines, there’s still plenty that has yet to be written from characters fans know well. The beauty of fan-fiction and theFuturamacomics of the past have enabled new stories and character development that weren’t used in episodes. Even if the show doesn’t go in a direction the fans want it to, there are still other stories to be told.
MORE:The Simpsons: Episodes That Are Better Now Than When They First Aired
