The Voices of Fry, Amy and Hermes on All of ‘Futurama’s New Family Dynamics

Thirteen seasons in — and three seasons into its revival on Hulu — Futurama is still offering up surprises. While the birth of Kif and Amy’s children in Season 11 was the biggest status quo change since the series returned, the new season, which hits today on Hulu, did something even more surprising when it revealed — spoiler alert — that Leela and Dr. Zoidberg are related. In fact, thanks to some shared ancestral DNA, they are essentially siblings.

I recently spoke with Billy West, the voice of Zoidberg (plus Fry, Farnsworth and many others), all about this revelation. I also chatted with Lauren Tom, who voices Amy, about how her character is handling motherhood, and Phil LaMarr, the voice of both Hermes and Dwight Conrad, about what it’s like to go on a father-and-son adventure when you’re playing both roles.

For this new season — or at least since the show was revived for Hulu — what has been your favorite new avenue to explore with your characters?

Billy West: We're dealing with the next generation of the Futurama crew. There’s children involved now and little families — that’s a whole new dynamic. I’d like to see Leela and Fry with a little family. There might be a redheaded kid with one eye — nothing wrong with that. It’d be fun.

Lauren Tom: I have to say, similarly, that I’m so excited that Amy’s a mom now and how reflective of our real lives the show is. We kind of all grew up together. We were single. None of us had kids. Now it’s been decades, and there’s more real life that we can apply to the show.

Phil LaMarr: Well, I really loved when they had the character Hermes try to beat COVID with Voodoo.

West: That still makes me laugh.

LaMarr: But it was really nice to have him go back to Jamaica, and we got to see his childhood and his father.

Phil, this season’s episode “Murderoni” had a nice father-and-son story with Hermes and Dwight, with you in both parts. How do those stories resonate with you? 

LaMarr: It’s always fun when they’ve got Dwight in an episode. It’s fun playing the son, although now my actual son is taller and bigger than me. I make sure I don’t make Dwight sound like my 24-year-old.

Lauren, how do you think Amy is handling motherhood?

Tom: I think she’s doing just fine. I love that the writing reflects how challenging it can be. For a parent, it starts out where you’re just sharing the responsibilities with your partner and you’re very respectful. Like, “No, honey, you go ahead and take that trip. I’ll cover it.” Then, cut to a year later, it’s like, “Where are you going!?” “To the bathroom!” It’s challenging to come from a very self-oriented focus to being other-focused when you have kids, and I’m happy that Amy has the chance to grow in that way.

Billy, the season’s biggest reveal is that Leela and Zoidberg are siblings. How did you feel about that?

West: (As Zoidberg) It creeped me out! It’s very hard to creep out Zoidberg! (Returns to normal voice) It was a little bit of a jolt, but I love when they mess with the form. You don’t want things to be too predictable. We’ll see what other shock is waiting around the corner.

Phil, may I ask your real feelings on Manwiches?

LaMarr: Well, it’s amazing to think that, a thousand years from now, there’s still food in a can.

Lauren, what does Amy see in Kif?

Tom: The deeply kind sweetness. Amy and Kif are such a good fit because they say that opposites attract, not that Amy’s not sweet, but Kif grounds her and makes her feel that safety and that consistency. He’s just so loving. And, he’s cute!

West: It’s nice that he gets respect because he doesn’t get any respect from Zapp Brannigan. It’s nice that he can break free of that dynamic. 

LaMarr: Putting Kif with Amy was the best thing they did for that character.

Billy, in the role of Professor Farnsworth, you’ve shouldered many of Futurama’s more science-heavy episodes. I’m curious, which episode of Futurama got you thinking the most?

West: As a lot of people do, I favor the time-travel episodes because they can go any number of ways. There’s the traditional ways from literature, like H.G. Wells, but I was so intrigued by the fact that there was a time machine that could only go forward. And, of course, the scientific writers that we have — all science and math majors — they had the whole world begin all over again and time goes back to the beginning. I loved that. It gives me a feeling of there being more to everything. There’s no finality.