Season 6

Season 6 is the upcoming season of Futurama and the first season of the second run. With 26 episodes, season 6 is so far the largest season, beating season 3 during the original run, which had 22 episodes.

From a broadcasting perspective, season 6 will be the seventh broadcast season, as during its original run, the third and fourth seasons of Futurama were split by the Fox Network into three broadcast seasons. According to David X. Cohen and Matt Groening, the première of the coming season is scheduled for June 2010.

David X. Cohen has mentioned that the number of 26 episodes is meant to be seen as a roof for the amount of episodes 20th Century Fox Television are willing to produce, and it is thus not necessary that it will eventually be 26 episodes, but there is a good chance it will be 26 episodes.

Production
Immediately after Bender's Game was announced, members of the media and fans starting discussing the possibility of Futurama returning as a TV show. With the release of Into the Wild Green Yonder the speculation became intense. On 7 June, 2009, Collider.com posted a rumour about a new TV season. Two days later, Comedy Central officially announced its return.

Content
When the news of new production was announced, very little information about the upcoming season was made available by the show's producers. However, in an interview following the announcement of the comeback, producer David X. Cohen revealed some of the plots they were working on, such as addiction to Twitter and iPhones, as well as a "shocking relationship", but did not go further into what they would be about. David X. Cohen went on to say that will focus greatly on every day life in the future, and be more focused on characters.

At the San Diego Comic-Con, 2009, certain plot points were revealed for episodes of the coming season. Such as the "shocking relationship" being between Bender and Amy in a parody of the California regarding gay marriage, and the Twitter plot involving Mom taking over the future's version of it. Other plots included Fry and Professor Farnsworth finding a time machine that only goes forward, Zapp and Leela stranded on a planet alone, how Zoidberg met Professor Farnsworth, the origins of Scruffy and a new Anthology of Interest episode.

In an 28 August 2009 Newsday story, Cohen revealed that "[t]here are six scripts currently in the works, ranging in scale from 'it's a crazy idea that someone's grandmother thought of' to 'it's all on paper.' Without giving away too much, I'll say the first episode is tentatively titled 'Rebirth' - and in a surprisingly literal fashion, as things turn out."

Reboot
Briefly after the show was revived, Matt Groening explained that he had been inspired by J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film, in regards to a franchise, though Cohen rebuttal it, describing that they "will not re-cast the actors" and such like that, though he never outright denies it in this interview.

At the San Diego Comic-Con 2009, a question was asked to the panel about the ending of Into the Wild Green Yonder, to which Matt Groening talked about ignoring it all together, while David X. Cohen wanted to address the conflicts, but warned viewers might to "turn away" for a "literal rebirth" of the show.

It seems now that the original concept of the first episode was to be set in another universe, but Matt Groening moved to make a "rebirth" of the characters, which apparently involves some reboot.

Recasting ploy


On 17 July, 20th Century Fox Television announced that the main cast of Futurama would go on recasting, opening for new actors to audition. 20th Century Fox Television cited that salary negociations had collapsed with the voice actors, who, according to several reports wanted 75,000 dollars per episode in salary, however this number remains unconfirmed by 20th Century Fox Television or the voice actors' reps, Phil LaMarr later denied the 75,000 dollar per episode claim as a far exaggeration. Meanwhile, others firmly believe that 20th Century Fox Television is doing a negotiation ploy to get the voice actors to cut their salary demands, and cited cases where 20th Century Fox Television had done the same thing for The Simpsons in the past, and they all still have the same voice actors.

Despite anticipation for news on the San Diego Comic-Con, 2009, Futurama panel, Matt Groening and David X. Cohen revealed nothing on the situation with the voice actors, only that they were hoping for the best. The voice actors were, as expected, not present at the panel, effectively putting an end to the debates on whether it was a hoax to stir up more talks about the show.

However, the whole ordeal ended on 31 July, 2009, when 20th Century Fox Television and Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, Billy West and John DiMaggio came to a deal.

Back to work
Since Futurama was announced back in June, 2009, the writers room had been working on a non-stop basis. Unfortunately, the actors were first settled later. However, on 7 August, 2009 began the first table reading, and the first recording session would begin the following week according to Katey Sagal. While the voice acting is early in the progress, the far larger portion of the production is the animation, as evident by voice acting for the films were finished in June, 2007, while the last film was released in February, 2009.