John DiMaggio Reveals He Failed to Get Desired Pay Raise for ‘Futurama’ Revival

The bizarre saga of John DiMaggio, the Futurama revival and Disney just took another turn. When Hulu first announced a revival of the beloved cartoon, DiMaggio declined to return as the voice of Bender because he wanted better pay. He changed his mind in March, and fans assumed that he and his employer had worked out better terms, but now DiMaggio says that’s not the case.

“People are like, ‘I’m so glad you got more money!’ I didn’t get more money,” DiMaggio said bluntly during a recent fan convention, according to a report by Slash Film. “But what I did get was a lot of respect, and a lot of head nods from people who are like, ‘Yo bro, I see you and thank you.’” DiMaggio said that it was “quite rewarding” to hear from fans and colleagues on this issue, but said that he now felt there was no chance of arguing his way into a better paycheck.

“Trying to get money out of Disney is like trying to get blood from a stone – you ain’t gonna get it!” the actor said. “But listen, this was the best thing about that fight: I had Disney, Hulu, I was holding on to their collective testicles so hard that they couldn’t, y’know, there was nowhere for them to go. But there was also nowhere for me to go, and who wants to hold on to those for that long?”

DiMaggio also revealed that Hulu had an odd plan to replace him if he didn’t settle on a deal with them. The streamer would not have cast a single voice actor to take over the role of Bender. Instead, they were “planning on using guest stars, [and] they were going to replace Bender’s voice each episode.”

It’s hard to say how that would have gone over with fans, but clearly DiMaggio didn’t like the idea. The actor was the only original cast member who didn’t sign on before Hulu announced the revial. Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr and David Herman were all involved from the start. DiMaggio led a social media campaign trying to get better wages for all of them, not just himself.

Futurama is one of the most beloved adult cartoons of the genre, but it has already been revived several times. Many fans are still wary of this reboot even with DiMaggio back on board. The new season is expected to premiere in 2023.