Speculation of Futurama's return until the second run

During much of Spring, 2009, and earlier, roamed large speculation about the status of Futurama and whether it would return after Into the Wild Green Yonder. On 9 June, 2009, it was officially confirmed that the show would return for its second run, beginning with a 26 episode long season 6.

This article describes the rumours and speculation up until that point.

The hiatus
After 3-4 years of hiatus due to cancellation, the show saw new light when season 5 was ordered. Season 5, unlike prior seasons, saw its light as four films cut into episodes, which would ultimately become production season 5.

There have been a general concern with the film format for Futurama, and most fear that it doesn't fit the show, and would prefer Futurama back as a weekly show.

Initial purpose
When the films were announced back during 2006 - 2007, many fans immediately thought of this an opportunity to prove to Fox that this show still had the gist, and they were willing to put their efforts (i.e. money) into getting these films a larger success than Fox could anticipate, and thus coming around with a renewal of the show with one or more TV seasons.

Indeed, some fans would consider the excise of the films entirely pointless, if the immediate reaction to their sales was a new TV season.

Effect of the films
When Bender's Game had been released, David X. Cohen appeared in an interview, expressing hope for the show to be picked up once more. He puts it, "[h]ope never dies on Futurama, or not anymore," explaining it with "[i]t died once, but once you introduce the idea that you can come back from the dead, then the second time you have to have a little bit of hope that you might come back to life yet again."

But Cohen's hope is not without reasoning, "[t]he hard facts would seem to support us coming back again. From what we have heard, the DVDs have sold very well, and I have heard the phrase 'greatly exceeded' 20th Century Fox's expectations", but warns fans not to get too excited just yet, because "[w]e haven't heard anything, yes or no, so it's familiar territory."

Rumours of talks with FOX and speculation
Nearing the release of Into the Wild Green Yonder, HippoJuice made an interview with Billy West at South Florida Anime Supercon. Among other things, Billy talks about a possible sixth season being in discussion internally at Fox.

totalfilm.com talked to Futurama producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen plus the four voice actors Billy West, Lauren Tom, Maurice Lamarche, and Phil LaMarr and discussed "9 Odd Things We Now Know About Futurama".

The ninth odd thing is about the possibility of Futurama returning:

movieweb.com conducted an interview with Matt Groening, David X Cohen, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil Lamarr and Billy West. Among other things, they talk about a possible sixth season. This supports the information in the prior interviews. In an IGN interview with Cohen, Cohen mentions "[t]he good news is it really might happen. And the bad news is it really might happen".

David X. Cohen goes further in his indication, and indicates there is a 50/50 chance of the show getting renewed for a sixth season. In addition to that, he continues discuss his plans for the future of the show, given the corner they have painted themselves in at the end of Into the Wild Green Yonder.

Supported rumours of talks
The British tabloid, ZOO, published a full page interview with Matt Groening, where he states that Futurama will be back in some form. However, as a tabloid, its news should taken with a grain of salt. On the other hand, Matt mentions in the interview, that "[w]e're talking with 20th Century Fox and we really hope it happens". Which differs largely from prior interviews, where the crew stated that Fox were discussing it, internally.

In addition, Matt Groening seems to be leaning towards the theatrical release of Futurama, rather than a weekly TV show. But right now, no official word from Fox have been made of the type Futurama will return in.

After a period of silence, Matt Groening appeared in an interview for the A.V. Club, in which he describes that they are not holding their breath, because in the television industry it is so easy to just say no. However, he suggests it would be financially smart to repurchase Futurama.

On the radio show, , Billy West again mentions that the negotiations are still going, but also encourage fans to write letters and e-mails to Fox, which might help their course.

canada.com writes about the  sitcom on Fox, which is about to end. Co-producer John Altschuler mentions that the show ends to make room for other shows, where the article mentions that "Futurama, another animated comedy that ran briefly as a companion show to The Simpsons and King of the Hill, will be back on the prime time TV schedule, after enjoying a second and third life as a series of straight-to-DVD movies". However, the author was later proven to be talking about episodes from the films, rather than a new season.

Contradiction regarding talks
In February, 2009, Matt Groening stated in an interview that "[w]e're talking with Fox about doing more episodes and I hope we can. Just looking at the numbers, it seems to make sense. They're making money", indicating that there certainly was talks in the works.

However, later in early March, David X. Cohen stated "[b]asically, all I genuinely know is that Fox is talking about it, they're thinking about it. But they're not talking about it with us, they're thinking about it among themselves. We know it's under consideration, apparently it's taking a while." These contradictions in interviews have left fans puzzling, and speculation regards whether each Futurama crew member has each of their own interpretation of the actual ongoings at Fox or whether some of them are deliberately spicing up the truth. Indeed, Billy West have been easy to tell the world about the talks.

The 2009-10 U.S. Television season
During the months of April and May, 2009, the U.S. television networks are often going to announce which shows they are bringing back and which they aren't. The British Digital Spy have launched a list of television shows of interest to British and American viewers, including already renewed shows and axed shows, but also shows still up for grabs. However, by 5 June, 2009, Futurama had disappeared entirely off the list. Elsewhere, though, The Futon Critic reports that it is returning next season and have yet to premiere, however, elsewhere on The Futon Critic, a table seems to imply that they considering each film as a broadcast season, with the listing of 4 episodes left for Futurama. In the press release for the coming season, Fox makes no mention of Futurama.

Fans may now turn their attention to Comedy Central for a possible renewal of the show, but some fans regard it as a remaining possibility that Fox could renew for the 2010-11 U.S. television season. Comedy Central may also be a long shot, given how they have already made a purchase of a new cartoon show, Ugly Americans, which commentators are highlighting (in a negative fashion) for its many Futurama similarities. However, when Comedy Central announced its plans for the 2009-10 U.S. television season, there was no announcement for the renewal of Futurama, which may mean no renewal for Futurama this year, but such an announcement may be outside of these upfronts, but it things still suggests that at the earliest, Futurama would air in Autumn, 2010.

In an article summing up the 20th Century Fox season, Ed Weller mentions Futurama as one of the renewed shows. However fans believe that this is purely a mistake on the author's side, confusing the airing of the last episodes of season 5, cropped from Into the Wild Green Yonder as a new season. According to the Futurama Madhouse, when contacted, author Ed Weller stood by his assertion with "[n]ot for the Fox network but Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution will have some new episodes to distribute to the international market next week. The studio is making more eps for DVD sales". However, some suggest that "making more episodes" may just indicate that they are "chopping up Into the Wild Green Yonder".

Rumour about new season from Comedy Central
After a couple of weeks of silence, Collider reports that a reliable source within Comedy Central has renewed Futurama for a 13 episode season, though makes clear it remains a "rumour" by now. A quick analysis of the article, seems to indicate that Collider is pretty confident that it is true, and it is only a matter of time before official word. The article does not try to place itself in a position where it would be excusable if it was false, and does not include ifs and maybes, which means Collider is risking its credibility if it is false, but have provided an excellent scoop if it is correct.

Soon after Collider's news, several other news outlets reported the same, with skeptical, yet positive support.

Official word
Another source claims that it is now official, and Fox have ordered a 26 episode season rather than the 13 episode season we heard from Comedy Central. However, Entertainment Weekly cites Gary Newman and Dana Walden from 20th Century Fox and Matt Groening himself. Other highly reliable sources, such as The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Which makes this pretty legit.