Recasting ploy

On 17 July, 2009, 20th Century Fox Television announced it would open audition to recast the cast for Futuramas upcoming sixth production season', when they failed to meet the salary demands of the voice actors. The whole affair escalated into outrage from the fans, a Comic-Con panel that was sour and close to depression, only with the end result of 20th Century Fox Television paying more than they originally offer.

On 31 July, 2009, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, Billy West and John DiMaggio all sealed their deal with 20th Century Fox Television. Supporting cast, including Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, Frank Welker and David Herman, are still to be settled.

Original dispute
When Futurama official revived for its sixth production season, it was assumed that the voice actors of the show were also anticipated for a return and a contract had already been signed.

Announcement
Before 20th Century Fox Television's official statement, Phil LaMarr posted an audition call for some of the main characters on Futurama as well as Kif Kroker and Zapp Brannigan, the call also included links to videos of characters so actors could get an impression of the voice. This call was later broken by Forces of Geek.

Moments later, the story was confirmed by 20th Century Fox Television in a statement:

"We love the 'Futurama' voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands. While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on. We are confident that we will find terrific new performers to give voice to Matt and David’s brilliantly subversive characters."

Maurice LaMarche and John DiMaggio later confirmed the story on their Facebook pages as well.

Immediate reaction
The immediate fan reaction to the news was part denial and part suggesting it might be the other thing. Analysis quickly spread out claiming that the whole thing was purely was a negotiation ploy by 20th Century Fox Television in order to force the voice actors to cave in for a lower salary. Immediate reactions elsewhere included that it being a publicity stunt to stir up more talk about Futurama.

In addition, Variety reported that the actors had asked for 75,000 dollars per episode in salary demands, something other people picked up, but it was a figure that at the time was neither confirmed by 20th Century Fox Television or the voice actor's reps, a claim that was later disputed by Phil LaMarr on his Facebook page.

Alternative theories
Despite the two more obvious versions, other theories started appearing to explain the whole ordeal. Though, after the panel, people are confident that it is a negotiation tactic rather than anything else.

Union requirement
Some fans suggested that it was a Union requirement to recast actors for a show returning, just to have said they've done it. However, this was quickly rebuttal with references to how neither Family Guy or Futurama itself had to be recast when it returned.

Publicity stunt
Perhaps the most popular theory, fans speculated that the whole ordeal was put together by 20th Century Fox Television as well as the show runners and voice actors to stir up more publicity for Futurama up until the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, where its truth was supposed to be revealed.

After the cast was dis-invited, the publicity stunt theory lessen in substance as it would seem rough of 20th Century Fox Television to dis-invite its cast for a stunt. However, John DiMaggio's singing in an interview a day prior to the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con panel regarding the question on the negotiation, seemed odd considering that he was dealing with a negotiation for one of his favourite jobs. Though, some dismissed this as DiMaggio being confident that the cast would return.

However, with no presence of the Futurama cast at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, this theory was finally put to rest.

Fan campaigns
When the news broke, the Futurama fan base quickly mobilised. Several of the sites reporting on the news advised its readers to sign petitions, send e-mails to 20th Century Fox Television executives or the casting director, Scott Muller, and/or join Facebook groups to voice their discontent with the decision.

With the extensive roar from the fan base, the cast in question responded with much appeasing of the fan base. Billy West personally thanked his readers on his forum, John DiMaggio applauded the support in his IGN TV interview, while Maurice LaMarche and Phil LaMarr expressed their gratitude on their respective Facebook pages.

After the dispute had ended, Maurice LaMarche thanked the fans in a short video of himself, while Billy West thanked his fans on his forum.

Other media
Not only the fan base itself, but also the former cable rerunner of the series, Adult Swim, responded with a small piece on their channel, regarding the recasting ploy, and told 20th Century Fox Television, as well as Comedy Central, that if they did it their way, the show would fail again, and when they gave it back to adult swim, they would do it right again.

Dis-invitation
A Futurama panel was scheduled for the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con on 25 July, 2009. Including show runners, Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, voice actors John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal and Maurice LaMarche was also scheduled to be there. However, on 22 July 20th Century Fox Television dis-invited the voice actors to participate at the panel.

The panel
The panel began without the actors present, and an announcement by the Hypnotoad telling people to ignore their lack of presence. Cohen and Groening then walked upon stage to explain that they were very concerned about the situation, and hoping it would be sorted out soon, but could however not speak on the matter for negotiation reasons. In addition to not commenting on the matter, the audience was asked not to ask questions on the dispute, making it a somewhat uncomfortable matter, in their attempt to avoid the elephant in the room.

Producer Claudia Katz and writers Patric M. Verrone, Eric Kaplan and Michael Rowe were also present at the panel. While the panel itself revealed no new information except for Cohen's and Groening's support for the voice actors and the obvious plot points coming up, the structure of the panel did put an end to the publicity stunt theories, which would have required some sort of announcement at the panel by 20th Century Fox Television. Something which did not come.

Expectations
After the Comic-Con panel had left most people in a sense of uncertainty, with its lack of information on the matter, some people were concerned on the possible outcome of the ploy.

Some sources concluded that the production of the show had been delayed because of the dispute, while others went out with that the production had been put entirely on hold, and even suspicion to cancellation:

"The show was cancelled and all the actors went on to make other commitments. It's the studio who can't decide on how to get everyone on board."

The comment was clear though, if the cast did not return, then there would be no new Futurama at all. However, the later statement released by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, seems to be hinting at the halt of the production with their "[t]he call has already gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters" comment.

Confirmation
On 31 July (around noon, Pacific time), 2009, 20th Century Fox Television announced that Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille had signed a contract. Later that day, Billy West and John DiMaggio also sealed their contract with 20th Century Fox Television. David X. Cohen and Matt Groening released a joint statement on the matter:

"We are thrilled to have our incredible cast back. The call has already gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters."

20th Century Fox Television also released a statement:

"Just wanted you to know that we now have deals with the entire Futurama voice cast to return: John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal."

Payment
Reports say that 20th Century Fox Television agreed to a pay more than they originally offered, while the actors agreed to accept less than they originally wanted, the actors asked in the final negotiations for 40,000 dollars per episode, but it seems they have settled for less than that in the end. Though, where the original figure of 75,000 dollars per episode came from remains disputed.

Supporting cast
When the main cast settled with 20th Century Fox Television, the supporting cast, consisting of Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, Frank Welker and David Herman, were not settled, the following week on 3 August, they began negotiation. By 7 August, the negotiations with the supporting cast was settled, and all the actors are back with the Futurama production. Which is appropriate as the first table read for season 6 started on the very same day.