The recent season finale of Futurama, "Final Ending: The Last Conclusion," was originally conceived as a potential series finale, according to showrunner David X. Cohen. The episode explores the concept of endings, a theme that has become familiar to the show's creative team.
"At the time we wrote the season finale, we did not know if the show would be going on again. So in our minds, that's a last episode ever, and we wrote it accordingly," Cohen told Polygon. He elaborated that this marks the sixth time the show has written an episode with the potential to be its last. The episode itself centers on Fry's quest to find the ending of a childhood movie, intertwining with Professor Farnsworth's theories on humanity's innate need for story conclusions.
Despite the finale's thematic weight, Futurama is indeed returning next year with three supersized specials. This marks a shift from the show's previous two-season, 10-episode orders on Hulu, which began in 2023. The new specials are intended to "eventize" the franchise, offering significant narrative arcs that can't be contained within a typical 22-minute episode. Executive producer Claudia Katz noted that this approach allows for more expansive storytelling.
"We have a lot of episodes, so the general outcome of the discussion was, 'We want to have some special events to call attention to Futurama,'" Cohen explained. "That way we get three premiere-type events, rather than getting the attention one time for a new season. And to mix it up after four straight seasons of doing the same thing."
The upcoming specials will explore various themes. One will be a holiday spectacular, featuring Bender's romance with a snowman and a farewell to Kwanzaabot, honoring the late Coolio who voiced the character. Cohen also highlighted that a recurring theme throughout the specials will be the long-term development of Fry and Leela's relationship.
Regarding the past season, Cohen expressed pride in the episode featuring the return of Zoidberg's love interest, Marianne, calling it one of his all-time favorite episodes. Katz cited the Catfish Hunter episode as a personal highlight. The season also gave Nibbler a significant storyline, which Cohen described as a careful balance between cosmic stakes and personal character emotion.
The transition to specials allows the show more freedom in its storytelling. Unlike the direct-to-DVD movies of 2007-2009, which had to function as both movies and individual episodes, the new specials can be treated as "real features." Cohen indicated that the writing process for these specials offers more flexibility, allowing for stories that simply cannot be told in a standard episode length.
"Futurama is the perfect vehicle for features — like, real features — so what's exciting to me is, if that opens the door to features, even better," Katz added.
Futurama is currently available for streaming on Hulu and Disney Plus.