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'.

As of 27 July, no confirmation from either side have been provided.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Outcome
What the eventual outcome of the negotiations remains to be seen, though many people are confident that the original voice actors will return. John DiMaggio himself seemed so confident that they will return that he was willing to break out in song for his interviewer.

Despite the positive behaviour of the voice actors, other sources are claiming that there are "no plans" for 20th Century Fox Television and the voice actors to continue talks as of 25 July. In addition, others describe the Comic-Con panel as a missed opportunity for dismissing some of the speculation. Fienberg at HitFix goes onto say that the entire possibility of 20th Century Fox Television actually hiring a new cast or keeping the old one remains an open question.

On hold?
After the panel, some source have reported that the production of Futurama has been delayed because of the dispute. UGO TV even went as far as claiming it had been put entirely on hold, as well citing an industry insider source claiming the show had been cancelled.

"The show was canceled 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."

Though, the UGO TV source seems doubtful as neither the actors have expressed any sort of "moving onto other commitments", which they weren't already participating in, as well as the source claimed that voice actors had boycotted the panel, rather than being dis-invited by 20th Century Fox Television.

However, the UGO TV article can also be regarded with what would seem obvious by now, that if the original voice actors do not return, then there will be no new Futurama, which gives the idea of putting it on hold some credibility. Because 20th Century Fox Television may seem uncertain as to whether the voice actors and them well eventually come to an agreement, if that is not certain, then it is a waste of production to continue with the other work on the show, such as writing and early animation.