It looks like it may have all been tactics after all. At least so far. While I'm thrilled that the majority of the Futurama voice actors have signed deals to reprise their roles, they're still missing two of the key talents. Can you really imagine Futurama with different voices for Fry, Zoidberg, Farnsworth and Bender? At the same time, I can't really see Billy West (Fry, Zoidberg, Farnsworth) and John Di Maggio (Bender) walking away from this.

Di Maggio is currently working on Penguins of Madagascar, but neither is working on anything as high profile as Futurama. I can't imagine they have any intention of truly walking away from a revival getting this much press. They were just trying to play hardball, and realized that 20th Century wasn't going to play.

I think it would have been fun if they'd recast the characters. They would have probably even addressed it right in the episodes, having them talk about how they all sound different and coming up with some ridiculous reason for it.

[UPDATE: - Since the composition of this post, all principal cast members have been signed.]

If you thought Futurama had nowhere to go after the climatic series-long ending with Into the Wild Green Yonder (and notice I'm not revealing what that ending is so you spoiler-hating surprise junkies don't lose your half-daily hit of whahuh?!?), think again.

Futurama's executive producer David X. Cohen talked to Wired Magazine's Underwire blog about just what lies ahead for the new Comedy Central episodes.

The good news is Cohen seems to be brimming with more crazy ideas than a Hardee's product development retreat, but he doesn't reveal anything too specific in terms of what Fry, Leela and Bender will be doing in the episodes to come.