SYFY today announced that it has acquired the hit animated seriesFuturamafrom Twentieth Television in a multi-year, non-exclusive deal that includes all 140 HD episodes of the series.Futuramawill make its SYFY debut in a special weekend stunt beginning Saturday, November 11, withFuturama episodesairing regularly in primetime on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8PM-2AM ET/PT and on Saturday mornings from 8-11AM ET/PT.
TheFuturamaacquisition comes as SYFY continues to aggressively expand its genre programming following its summer 2017 brand reboot.Futuramathe first fully animated series in SYFY’s rebooted lineup - will join a growing roster of ambitious scripted and unscripted originals and high profile acquired series and movies that reflect the rich depth of the genre. Here’s what Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks (USA and SYFY) for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, had to say in his statement.
“We’re continuing to invest heavily to give our passionate fans the very best in genre programming, and I can think of no better addition to SYFY’s lineup than one of my personal favorites,Futurama.”
Back in July,Futuramacreator David X. Cohen teased that anew Futurama projectwas in the works, confirming that it wasn’t new episodes of the TV series, or a movie. In September, it was revealed that project was aFuturama podcast episode, a radio play that served as a tie-in to the new mobile gameFuturama: Worlds of Tomorrow.Futuramacreators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen wrote the radio play, with the entireFuturamacast reprising their roles, including Billy West (Fry, Zapp Brannigan), Katey Sagal (Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender, Zoidberg), Phil LaMarr (Hermes) and Maurice Lamarche (Morbo), which aired on theNerdist podcastlast month, with Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick voicing the primary villain of this episode, known as Klaxxon.
First airing on Fox from 1999-2003,Futuramawas brought back in 2007 with four direct-to-DVD movies that subsequently aired as 30-minute episodes on Comedy Central. Based on their success, Comedy Central ordered new seasons of theFuturama serieswhich debuted in June 2010. Over the course of its storied run,Futuramahas earned six Emmy Awards-including two for Outstanding Animated Program, seven Annie Awards, two Environmental Media Awards and two Writers Guild of America Awards.Futurama, created by Matt Groening, developed by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, is produced by The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Television.
In addition to current acclaimed series likeThe Expanse,The MagiciansandChannel Zero, upcoming SYFY originals include the December 6 premiere ofHappy!, an out-there graphic novel adaptation starring Christopher Meloni and featuring the voice of Patton Oswalt as the animated title character, and the highly anticipated Superman prequelKrytptonairing in 2018. SYFY is also currently developing several notable properties, including pilot orders for an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s space opera novellaNightflyersand a reboot of the 1990 cult classicTremors. Hopefully we’ll find out more about this “special weekend stunt” as we get closer toFuturama’s premiere onSyfy.
