Hot on the heels of last week’s news that Family Guy is hosting a crossover with The Simpsons in 2014 comes the announcement of on another crossover between The Simpsons and an animated series. At The Simpsons’ Comic-Con panel Saturday, showrunner Al Jean revealed that they’re about to record an episode of the show that will serve as a crossover with creator Matt Groening’s other show, Futurama. The episode will be airing in 2014, either as a season 25 finale in May or a season 26 premiere in the fall. Family Guy’s Simpsons episode is also expected to air sometime in 2014.
Al Jean tells EW that the plot is that “Bender has to come back from the future to kill Bart because there’s something that Bart does now that makes the future really, really, really bad. Tip of the hat to Harlan Ellison.†He adds, “Futurama is such an easy fit. It’s really funny, and their show lends itself to any variety of plot lines. By having them on, we have a little freedom… The biggest thrill for me is that we don’t have to adjust the animation style.â€
Futurama cast members Billy West (Fry/Farnsworth/Zoidberg/Zapp Brannigan), Katey Sagal (Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender), Phil LaMarr (Hermes), and Maurice LaMarche (Kif) will be lending their voices to the Simpsons episode, in addition to Tress MacNeille (Mom), who’s already a Simpsons regular. DiMaggio previously made a cameo as Bender in the season 16 Simpsons episode “Future-Drama,†and the two shows have made references to each other for years. The two series have also crossed over in the past in comic book form. Futurama is currently wrapping up its seventh and final season on Comedy Central, set to conclude in advance of the crossover on September 4th of this year.