Original 'Futurama' Voices to be Recast?

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:04 am

On his official Facebook page, voice actor Phil LaMarr makes mention of a casting notice released at the end of the day Thursday, looking to fill all of the main characters currently voiced by the regular cast members of the popular Matt Groening series, Futurama. John DiMaggio's page also confirms this. This news comes as a surprise, especially when executive producer David X. Cohen said in this Wired article from last month, "Obviously we’re not going to recast it...," when asked about the possibility of 'rebooting' the series and characters Star Trek style. In early June, it was announced that Comedy Central had signed on to air 26 new episodes of the previously cancelled Futurama in mid-2010.

The official casting notice, released Thursday evening, states: "We are starting casting immediately for Futurama, a half-hour animated comedy created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Descriptions of these established characters follow, along with links to clips of previous episodes for reference." The list of characters they are looking to cast include main characters Philip J. Fry (currently voiced by Billy West), Turanga Leela (currently voiced by Katey Sagal), Bender Bending Rodriquez (currently voiced by John DiMaggio), Professor Hubert Farnsworth (currently voiced by Billy West), Dr. John Zoidberg (currently voiced by Billy West), and the recurring roles of Mom (currently voiced by Tress MacNeille), Zapp Brannigan (currently voiced by Billy West), and Kif Kroker (currently voiced by Maurice LaMarche).

The notice also lists the start date for recording as August of this year.

The reason for this casting notice is still unknown, but we will post updates here as we learn more.

Source: Phil LaMarr

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