Futurama’s Bender John DiMaggio Won’t Return To The Series Due To Pay Dispute

John DiMaggio voiced the character of Bender in the former renditions of the animated show ‘Futurama.’ While a new revival from Hulu is on its way, DiMaggio is reluctant to play his iconic character once again.

DiMaggio pushed his schedule to be on board. However, after a pay dispute between the involved parties took place, the actor laid down any hopes of coming back to play the character once again, unless the payment disputes are ironed out.

Hulu unveiled their plans for a 20-episode revival of Matt Groening’s Futurama. However, fans were shocked to not have DiMaggio as a cast member while other original members were through on the show.

DiMaggio took to Twitter in order to let fans know exactly what is the scope of his possible return. He said that the entire cast deserves to have a pay-increase, and added that it’s about self-respect. He didn’t look at the negotiations negatively, and said that they are integral to show business.

I’ve been thinking about everything that’s been going on these past months and just to be clear, I don’t think that only I deserve to be paid more. I think the entire cast does. Negotiations are a natural part of working in show business. Everyone has a different strategy & different boundaries. Bender is a part of my soul & nothing about this is meant to be disrespectful to the fans or my Futurama family. It’s about self-respect. And honestly, being tired of an industry that’s become far too corporate and takes advantage of artist’s time & talent.

Futurama actors have a history to enter renegotiations with the management as when the show was revived for the first time, its members were said not to return due to contract disputes. However, the negotiations were slowly ironed out in order for the actors to re-take their roles. Let’s hope that DiMaggio finds his ideal contractual terms with the studio once again.

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