20th Century Fox TV has sent out a casting call and begun auditions for voice actors to replace the original cast of the long-running sci-fi animated series Futurama after contract negotiations fell apart.
While it’s still possible that Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille will return to the show for 26 new episodes set to air next year on Comedy Central, the studio is at the very least hedging its bet.
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter report that the budget for the new series has been dramatically slashed, and the cast members were less than pleased when Fox’s offers came in well below their $75,000 per episode asking price.
Futurama is trodding a well-worn path here. Its resurrection due to strong DVD sales and late-night cable ratings after being canceled mirrors the history of Family Guy, which this week was nominated for best comedy series Emmy Award. The standoff between the voice actors and 20th recalls similar standoffs involving the cast of The Simpsons.
Futurama ran from 1997 to 2003 on Fox and was revived in a series of four direct-to-DVD features, the last of which was released earlier this year.
