The following contains spoilers for Futurama season 12 episode 10, “Otherwise,” now streaming on Hulu
Futurama’sseason 12 finale opened the door for the show to dive into the multiverse, which could be an exciting (but risky) direction for the series.Futurama’s always been able to push the boundaries of sci-fi and comedy thanks to his futuristic setting. However, the introduction of the multiversal tear known as the Graveyard of Ships has expanded the scope of the series to countless other possible realities. The episode even featured a great set-up for that concept to be expanded upon, with the main cast venturing out across timelines and dimensions.
Theending of season 12 sets upFuturamafor a truly wild season 13. However, there are some elements of the show that could only be exasperated by this new direction. IfFuturamaisn’t careful, these problems could remove any sense of stakes from the adventures of the Planet Express Crew. Instead, by usingthe bittersweet ending of Fry and Leela in “Otherwise"as a guiding light, the show has the ideal way to avoid the faults that have hurt other multiversal stories in film and television.
Futurama’s Multiverse Expands The Series
“Otherwise” Opens Up A Multiverse Of Possibility
Futurama’s new approach to the multiverseis an exciting but risky way to expand the sci-fi series.Futuramahas always been an inventive series, thanks in large part to the sheer scope and design of the setting. The 31st century is a place where technology and culture, both on Earth and across the cosmos, could set up theoretically endless possibilities. Other dimensions and realities were even on the table, as seen in episodes like season 5’s “The Farnsworth Parabox.” However, “Otherwise” takes things even further by exposing a riff in the multiverse.
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The existence of the multiverse is an exciting prospect, especially for a show that’s already introduced plenty of variants on the main cast in assorted anthology episodes. With the Planet Express Crew ending season 12 ofFuturamaadrift in the vast multiverse, the setup is poised to throw the cast into a wild and inventive new set of adventures. The formal introduction of the multiverse meansFuturamahas no limits, especially if it avoids a prior habit of brushing off major events between episodes.
Futurama Season 13 Needs To Deal With The Multiverse
FuturamaCan’t Waste A Great Idea
Futuramahas previously threatened to rework their entire universe in episodes like season 6’s “Into the Wild Green Yonder” and the world-ending conclusion toseason 12’s “Attack of the Clothes,” only to immediately backtrack. The former even quietly matches the ending of “Otherwise,” both concluding with the Planet Express Crew venturing into the unknown. However, season 7 quickly undercut that turn by bringing the crew back to Earth in that season’s premiere episode, “Rebirth.“Futuramaneeds to avoid repeating that mistake, as the prospect of a full multiverse of adventures is too good to let go.
Even if the Planet Express Crew does manage to find a way back to their version of New New York, the show can’t simply ignore the turn of events.The Planet Express Crew needs to confront the possibility and scope of the multiverse. The concept is too big and expands the universe so significantly that it would feel like a genuine waste if the show didn’t address it going forward. This could allowFuturamato potentially venture into the multiverse and set up new stories or threats to be encountered and would be a fun expansion of the setting.
Futurama’s Anthologies Could Tease A Multiverse Problem
A Lack Of Stakes Could MakeFuturama’s Multiverse Anticlimactic
There’s also a genuine risk that comes with transformingFuturamainto a multiversal show.Futuramaalready had a problem with stakes, as death means little in a setting like the 31st century. The introduction of a multiverse full of variants can reduce those stakes even more so, making character deaths so insignificant and commonplace that they lose any dramatic weight. The non-canon anthologies highlight this risk, albeit in a fun way. Those shorts, free of the typicalFuturamacanon,were quick to break the status quo and even kill main characters casually.
Those could work in short bursts thanks to the comedic nature of the show and those anthologies, but they could impact any attempt to bring stakes and weight to the main cast’s adventures. “Otherwise” tells a wonderfully little bittersweet multiverse story, but arcs that aren’t as focused on characters could give the entire multiverse a throwaway feel that undermines the strong character work that has always elevatedFuturamaas a show.
Futurama’s Season 12 Finale Is A Great Multiverse Story
“Otherwise” Proves The Multiverse Can Be Great For Storytelling
Luckily,“Otherwise” is a perfect little example of how strongFuturama’s multiverse can be. The story diverges when the Planet Express Crew falls into the multiverse, with much of the episode following their variants who escaped that fate. Fry and Leela get engaged, even as visions of other lifetimes steadily drive Fry to desperation. Fry, Leela, and Bender venture back to the Spaceship Graveyard and end up in a fight they can’t win, dying in the process.
Ken Keeler
Writer
These variants are given the focus and time to really feel like complete versions of the characters, especially as the tension of their situation escalates.“Otherwise” allows the creatives to give one version of Fry and Leela painfully bittersweet closure, a fitting tragic finale that isn’t undermined by their lack of canonical importance. Just like howFuturamahas always grounded massive sci-fi concepts with humanistic elements, a focus on character-driven storytelling could allow the show to explore the multiverse and not lose sight of itself.
What Futurama Season 13 Needs To Do With The Multiverse
A Focus On Character Is Vital ToFuturama’s Future
Futuramaneeds to avoid the trappings that have caught up to multiversal shows likeRick & Mortyor franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Those stories, for better or for worse, have created such vast multiverses that entire realities can be erased as an afterthought. It takes away from the dramatic tension if a character can simply be replaced with a variant, or if a shift to different realities doesn’t have any character consequences.Futuramaneeds to use the multiverse as a chance to expand and explore its central characters, especially in entirely new settings.
So long as [Futurama] remains character-driven, the plots and emotional throughlines should remain strong regardless wherever the story takes the crew.
Futuramacould revisit the settings from previous anthologies, expanding on their stories or openly comparing them to the main versions of the cast. The multiverse could set up dangerous new adventures that could allow the show to subvert sci-fi tropes and expectations. So long as the series remains character-driven,the plots and emotional throughlines should remain strongregardless wherever the story takes the crew.Futuramahas a great chance to expand its world to a limitless degree, but it needs to be careful how they go about it.
Futurama
Cast
Futurama is an animated science fiction series that follows Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from late-20th-century New York City. He is accidentally cryogenically frozen for a thousand years and becomes an employee at Planet Express, a delivery service in the retro-futuristic 31st century.
