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- Futurama
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- This guide covers all eleven Futurama seasons, through the season 11 finale on September 28, 2026, and the franchise is ongoing, with extra-long specials reported for 2027.
Futurama Seasons Guide: Fox, Comedy Central and Hulu Explained
Since 1999 Futurama has built up 11 seasons and 180 episodes on Fox, Comedy Central and Hulu. Each stretch of the show is described below with its length and a place to start for viewers short on time.
Futurama seasons, every season explained
Futurama is an animated science-fiction comedy created by Matt Groening and developed with David X. Cohen, who ran the show. Philip J. Fry, a delivery boy, is cryogenically frozen on January 1, 2000, and wakes up on December 31, 2999. He takes a job at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company owned by his distant relative Professor Farnsworth, and works alongside Leela and Bender. The setting is New New York in the 31st century, built over the ruins of the old city, with mutants living in the sewers below. Billy West voices Fry, Farnsworth, Zoidberg and Zapp Brannigan, Katey Sagal voices Leela, and John DiMaggio voices Bender.
The voice cast is a large part of the show's identity, and it barely changes across the three outlets. Besides West, Sagal and DiMaggio, the main cast includes Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr and David Herman, who between them voice most of the supporting figures in Planet Express and the city around it. That continuity is the reason a viewer can jump from a 1999 episode to a 2026 episode and recognize every voice.
Anyone searching for the Futurama seasons runs into a counting problem straight away, because the show has been canceled, revived and moved between three outlets. Per the episode list on Wikipedia, Futurama has 11 production seasons and 180 episodes, and those production seasons spread across 14 broadcast seasons. Fox aired 72 episodes from 1999 to 2003, Comedy Central aired 68 from 2008 to 2013, and Hulu has released 40 more since 2023. This guide uses the production count, the same numbering the episode list uses, and it says where a season sits when the broadcast order differs.
The route from Fox to Hulu is unusual enough to be worth a short summary. Fox premiered the series on March 28, 1999, and its run ended on August 10, 2003. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim then reran the episodes from 2003 until the end of 2007. In between, four direct-to-video films went on sale from late 2007 to early 2009, and Comedy Central cut those films into a 16-episode fifth season that began on March 23, 2008. Comedy Central then ordered new episodes, and the series ended its cable run with the finale "Meanwhile" on September 4, 2013. Hulu announced a revival in 2022, and new seasons followed in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
That history explains why the show feels like several shows. The Fox seasons set the tone: a workplace comedy with a heart, in which the jokes about the future carry the stories. The Comedy Central seasons keep the same crew and the same voice cast. The Hulu seasons keep the format and add a streaming-era sense of scale, with a ten-episode order for each season instead of the 22-episode runs of the Fox years.
For watch order, Futurama is easier than most. Most episodes stand alone, so a viewer can start almost anywhere. The exceptions are the four films and the final episode of the Comedy Central run, which pay off long-running threads, and the Hulu seasons, which refer back to earlier events. The sensible plan for a first-timer is broadcast order starting at the pilot, "Space Pilot 3000", and watching straight through; the longer guide below gives the length of each stretch so you can plan the time.
Is Futurama finished? Not by the numbers. Season 11 ended on September 28, 2026, and Wikipedia reports that Hulu renewed the series in July 2026 for three extra-long specials, with the first expected in 2027. A twelfth production season in the usual sense has not been announced.
Seasons at a glance
| Season | Episodes | Aired | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 13 | 1999 | Fox: Fry wakes on the last day of 2999 and joins Planet Express |
| Season 2 | 19 | 1999-2000 | Fox: the second run of the original series |
| Season 3 | 22 | 2001-2002 | Fox: the longest season of the original run |
| Season 4 | 18 | 2002-2003 | Fox: the last season on the network |
| Season 5 | 16 | 2008-2009 | Comedy Central: the four films recut as 16 episodes |
| Season 6 | 26 | 2010-2011 | Comedy Central: new episodes, opening with "Rebirth" |
| Season 7 | 26 | 2012-2013 | Comedy Central: ends with the finale "Meanwhile" |
| Season 8 | 10 | 2023 | Hulu: the revival opens with "The Impossible Stream" |
| Season 9 | 10 | 2024 | Hulu: the second half of the first Hulu order |
| Season 10 | 10 | 2025 | Hulu: opens with "Destroy Tall Monsters" |
| Season 11 | 10 | 2026 | Hulu: runs from "Beef" to "Final Ending: The Last Conclusion" |
Season numbers are production seasons. Episode counts, air years and titles follow the episode list and the main article on Wikipedia, checked October 2026. The eleven seasons add up to 180 episodes, not counting the four films as released on DVD.
The season-by-season guide
Each section below covers one stretch of the show in order: the premise, the length, and the kind of story it tells. None of them gives away how an episode or a season ends. For readers who want a quick answer first, the table above lists every season at a glance, and what follows is the longer version. Anyone asking how many Futurama seasons exist can stop at eleven production seasons and use the sections below to pick where to begin.
A planning note for a full viewing. The Fox seasons add up to 72 episodes: 13, 19, 22 and 18. The Comedy Central seasons add up to 68: 16, 26 and 26. The Hulu seasons add up to 40, in four blocks of 10. A first-time viewer who goes through the show in order has 180 episodes ahead, and the numbers show that the Comedy Central stretch is the heaviest and the Hulu stretch the lightest. Anyone with less time can follow the list of key episodes near the end of this guide and come back for the rest later.
One pattern to keep in mind: the show does not reset its premise between stretches. Fry, Leela, Bender and the Planet Express crew are the same in 1999 and in 2026. What changes is the format, the outlet and the pace, and the guide sorts the seasons by those differences.
Fox, seasons 1 to 4 (72 episodes, 1999 to 2003)
Season 1 has 13 episodes and began on March 28, 1999, with the pilot "Space Pilot 3000". Fox ordered those 13 episodes after Groening and Cohen pitched the show in April 1998. The early episodes set up the world and the crew, and "Fear of a Bot Planet" is among the first-season episodes listed on Wikipedia. Anyone asking what the first Futurama season is like should know that it is the most compact block in the series, and a short, low-risk place to start.
Season 2 has 19 episodes and season 3 has 22, together running from late 1999 into 2002. Season 4 has 18 episodes and ran from February 10, 2002, to August 10, 2003. Fox's own broadcast order does not match the production order, which is the reason the broadcast season count runs ahead of the production count. The episode list on Wikipedia gives both numbers for every episode, and it is the best reference for anyone building a strict viewing order.
Season 4 contains "Jurassic Bark", the seventh episode of the season, which first aired on November 17, 2002 and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. It centers on Fry and a fossil on display in a museum, and Rough Cut Review would single it out as the episode to see if you only watch one from the Fox years.
Fox stopped buying episodes partway through the fourth season without announcing an official cancellation, according to Wikipedia, and the last Fox episode aired on August 10, 2003. Reruns on Adult Swim kept the show in circulation from 2003 until the end of 2007.
The four films (2007 to 2009)
After the Fox run ended, the franchise went to DVD. Bender's Big Score came out on November 27, 2007, The Beast with a Billion Backs followed on June 24, 2008, Bender's Game on November 4, 2008, and Into the Wild Green Yonder on February 23, 2009. The Wikipedia episode list gives a Region 1 date one day later for the last of the four, February 24, 2009, so the exact day depends on the source.
The films matter for viewing order because Comedy Central did not drop them. It reconfigured each film into a four-episode block, and together they became the 16 episodes of season 5. A viewer who watches the films and then season 5 would see the same story twice, once in feature form and once in broadcast form. Choose one. The feature versions are the better fit for a single evening, and the season 5 versions are the better fit for a weekly viewing.
Comedy Central, seasons 5 to 7 (68 episodes, 2008 to 2013)
Season 5 has 16 episodes and ran from March 23, 2008, to August 30, 2009. The films are the story of this season, and the series moves from DVD back to cable in the same stretch. Season 6 followed with 26 episodes in two halves of 13, premiering on June 24, 2010, with an episode titled "Rebirth", and ending in September 2011.
Season 7 also has 26 episodes in two halves of 13. It premiered on June 20, 2012, and ended on September 4, 2013, with "Meanwhile", the finale that closed the series at the time. Wikipedia lists "Fry and Leela's Big Fling" among the notable seventh-season episodes, even though it aired out of production order.
This is the stretch to pick for a full, steady run. Seasons 6 and 7 are the longest in the series at 26 episodes each, and they keep the same voice cast as the Fox years. Anyone who liked the first four seasons has a straight path from there into seasons 5, 6 and 7.
The two-halves structure of seasons 6 and 7 helps with planning. Each half is 13 episodes, roughly the length of the entire first season, so a viewer can take them in blocks of two weeks and stop at a natural break.
Hulu, seasons 8 to 11 (40 episodes, 2023 to 2026)
Hulu announced the revival on February 9, 2022, with a 20-episode order, and released it as two seasons beginning July 24, 2023. Season 8 has 10 episodes and opens with "The Impossible Stream"; season 9 followed in 2024. In November 2023 Hulu renewed the show for 20 more episodes. Season 10 premiered on September 15, 2025, with "Destroy Tall Monsters", and season 11 completed that second order.
Season 11 has 10 episodes and ran from August 3 to September 28, 2026. It opens with "Beef" and closes with "Final Ending: The Last Conclusion". The Hulu seasons assume the viewer knows the cast, and they refer back to older episodes, so they work best after at least the first two Fox seasons.
Wikipedia reports that a further run of three extra-long specials is expected in 2027. Until those arrive, season 11 is the latest season covered by this guide.
Four seasons of ten episodes each make the Hulu stretch the shortest per season and the easiest to binge. A viewer who has finished the earlier seasons can cover all 40 episodes in a handful of weeks, and the guide recommends doing it in release order so that the callbacks land.
The episodes that matter when time is short
These eight are the ones to prioritize when all of the series will not fit. Episode titles and numbers come from Wikipedia's episode lists.
- Season 1, episode 1, "Space Pilot 3000": the premiere of March 28, 1999, which sets up Fry, Leela, Bender and Planet Express.
- Season 1, "Fear of a Bot Planet": a first-season episode that the Wikipedia list marks as notable.
- Season 4, episode 7, "Jurassic Bark": the Emmy-nominated episode about Fry and a fossil in a museum.
- Bender's Big Score (November 27, 2007): the first of the four direct-to-video films.
- Season 6, episode 1, "Rebirth": the Comedy Central premiere of June 24, 2010.
- Season 7, episode 26, "Meanwhile": the finale of the Comedy Central run, aired September 4, 2013.
- Season 8, episode 1, "The Impossible Stream": the premiere of the Hulu revival, released July 24, 2023.
- Season 11, episode 10, "Final Ending: The Last Conclusion": the latest season finale, from September 2026.
Reading on Futurama
2 takesIndividual seasons and characters are covered in more detail on the pages below.
The Futurama Covid Episode: “Rage Against the Vaccine” Recap
“Rage Against the Vaccine” is the Futurama Covid episode, the seventh of the eleventh broadcast season, released on Hulu on September 4, 2023. It sends Hermes to New New Orleans to find a voodoo cure for a new plague of uncontrolled anger, and it never quite decides which side of the vaccine argument it is on.Futurama Round Wheels: “The Prince and the Product” Explained
“The Prince and the Product” is the ninth episode of Futurama’s eleventh season, released on Hulu on September 18, 2023, and it plays like a Saturday-morning cartoon with commercial breaks that sell toys, including Round Wheels, which come without wheels. Beneath the surreal chaos, the episode is about love and death.
Frequently asked questions about Futurama
How many seasons of Futurama are there?
Eleven production seasons, according to the episode list on Wikipedia, spread across 14 broadcast seasons. The show ran on Fox from 1999 to 2003, on Comedy Central from 2008 to 2013, and on Hulu from 2023 on. Season 11 ended in September 2026.
How many episodes does each season of Futurama have?
Season 1 has 13 episodes, season 2 has 19, season 3 has 22 and season 4 has 18. Season 5 has 16, seasons 6 and 7 have 26 each, and seasons 8 to 11 have 10 each. That adds up to 180 episodes.
Where should I start with Futurama season 1?
Start with the pilot, "Space Pilot 3000", and watch in order. Season 1 is 13 episodes long and is the most compact part of the series, so it works as a test of whether the show suits you. Nothing in it requires background knowledge.
Do I have to watch Futurama in order?
Mostly no. Most episodes stand alone, so you can start almost anywhere. The four films and the Hulu seasons build on earlier events, so broadcast order from the pilot is the safest way for a first viewing.
Do I need to watch the Futurama films?
Comedy Central recut the four films into the 16 episodes of season 5, so the story is available either way. Watching both would repeat the same material, and one version is enough.
Is Futurama over?
Not officially. Season 11 aired from August to September 2026, and Wikipedia reports a Hulu renewal in July 2026 for three extra-long specials, with the first expected in 2027.
Sources
Episode counts, dates and credits on this page follow the reference below; each figure was checked against it in October 2026.
- Futurama, Wikipedia — season and episode tables, release dates and credits