It has been confirmed that John DiMaggio, the voice actor of Bender, will be returning for the revival of Futurama after striking a deal with Hulu. DiMaggio now joins the rest of the Futurama cast as the series looks to have retained pretty much all of its voice talent from previous series.At the same time when news broke that Futurama is coming back, reports suggested that DiMaggio hadn't yet signed on to the revival as he felt he was being "lowballed" by Hulu, along with the rest of the cast. The voice actor made it pretty well known via social media that he was displeased with the terms offered by Hulu, but it now seems like the studio has come back with an improved offer after reportedly trying to recast him.John DiMaggio has even recently confirmed his return via his own Twitter account, excitedly tweeting "I'm back, baby" in all caps. In a statement published by Hollywood Reporter, DiMaggio explains that he's "grateful for the love and support of fans and colleagues alike during this whole time" and claims that "#Bendergate is officially over."
Futurama creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen also made a statement on the deal, filled with nothing but praise for DiMaggio and excitement to have the crew back together for a fourth time:
“John DiMaggio may be a great robot, but he’s also a great human being. Not many people or machines can say that," said Cohen. "For the fourth time, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thrill to be back with our entire original cast and the phenomenal animators of Rough Draft Studios.”
For those who may have missed the news, Futurama is indeed returning for new series, this time airing on Hulu at some point in 2023. The series will run for 20 episodes and will feature the entire original cast of the past three iterations, including Fry voice actor Billy West and Leela voice actor Katey Sagal. With DiMaggio on board as Bender, it's nice to see the trio will return as we know them.