Futurama Season 12 Ending Explained: New Multiverse Reveals & What That Fry & Leela Twist Means (2024)

The following contains spoilers for Futurama season 12 episode 10, "Otherwise," now streaming on Hulu

Futurama season 12's season finale opens up the show's version of the multiverse thanks to a bittersweet Fry and Leela twist. After returning to Hulu a decade after the show has last gone off the air, the sci-fi comedy has grown bolder with its tonal swings and more introspective with deep cuts. Season 12 of Futurama brought back several supporting characters and put them to good use, even while introducing fresh takes on archetypes from earlier in the show. Concepts like Bender's new love interest, a shift into horror, and a returning supporting characters highlighted how consistent the show remained.

"Otherwise" takes a massive sci-fi swing with the show, all while reflecting a common recent element of major sci-fi storytelling. In doing so, the show is opening up a massive well of potential storylines. However, it's important that the series retain the strong emotional focus that's always separated Futurama from its peers. Luckily, the stirring emotional elements of "Otherwise" suggest that the creatives behind Futurama are still committed to exploring and focusing on the heartfelt character-driven stories that elevate the sci-fi concepts. Here is how Futurama season 12 ends and how it could lead to a radically different season 13.

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Did Futurama Season 12 Kill Off Fry & Leela?

How Futurama Got To Kill Its Cake And Eat It Too

Futurama Season 12 Ending Explained: New Multiverse Reveals & What That Fry & Leela Twist Means (2)

Futurama's season 12 finale "Otherwise" technically killed off Fry and Leela, although it's not entirely clear if they were the version of the characters who'd always been in the show or variants from a nearly identical reality. "Otherwise" introduces a tear in the multiverse across all realities. Used as a spaceship graveyard in Futurama's primary universe, the episode splits when the crew is almost thrown into the void within the Planet Express Ship. While the entire cast in their most recognizable form is still aboard the ship and set adrift, a splinter reality reveals variants who actually escaped that fate.

In this timeline, Fry successfully proposes to Leela, but is haunted by visions he experienced of alternate lives. This eventually sets up Fry, Leela, Bender, Zapp, and Kif to confront a mysterious ghost ship that ultimately blows them up, killing them instantly. Although the final scene shifts back focus to the Planet Express Ship — implying this is the main version of the crew — the Fry and Leela who died were identical to the primary versions of the characters. Thanks to the multiverse element, Futurama got to show how Fry and Leela can die without actually having to kill them off.

Futurama Season 12 Ending's Multiverse Reveal Explained

Futurama's Multiverse Twist Could Connect All The Futurama Variants

Futurama season 12's conclusion fully opens up the multiverse for the sci-fi comedy, which could further expand the sheer scope of the goofy cosmic setting. Futurama has already introduced alternate realities before in episodes like season 3's "I Dated a Robot" and season 5's "The Farnsworth Parabox." Non-canon anthology episodes of Futurama played with the characters in different tones and styles. However, Futurama was still driven by its own tighter character continuity. Season 12 highlighted this by expanding on Amy's family and exploring more of Fry's past, even while adding new wrinkles to the established Futurama timeline like Hermes' father.

The ending of season 12 reveals that the Planet Express Ship has been functionally lost in the multiverse, setting up more expansive adventures. Although they were able to repair the ship and are now capable of movement and self-defense, the Planet Express Crew are seemingly lost drifting between realities. They phase in and out of other planes of existence, transforming them into an apparent ghost ship. This is the same ship that unknowingly destroyed the other version of the crew, and the ending suggests the ship will continue to fly through the multiverse until they find a potential way home.

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1

The Real Meaning Of Futurama's Season 12 Finale

Love Conquers All, Even When It Dies

Futurama Season 12 Ending Explained: New Multiverse Reveals & What That Fry & Leela Twist Means (4)

Futurama's season 12 finale is largely about Fry and Leela's romance, and reflects on a quietly bittersweet but beautiful aspect of their relationship. "Otherwise" highlights that Fry and Leela, regardless of the way they eventually die, find true happiness with one another. "Otherwise" frequently references "Meanwhile," with Fry's visions being from that episode. In the season 10 finale, Fry and Leela grew old together in a single moment after time froze. They ultimately let that life end so Professor Farnsworth could restore everything. In essence, that version of Fry and Leela died to save the world, and they died happy.

Futurama Main Characters

Cast

Fry, Zoidberg, Prof. Farnsworth

Billy West

Bendeer

John DiMaggio

Leela

Katey Sagal

Hermes

Phil LaMarr

Amy

Lauren Tom

Fry and Leela spent decades with each other and accepted their ending peacefully. Similarly, a modern-day Fry and Leela can face certain sudden death and still choose to embrace one another. Regardless of the circumstances, Fry and Leela's love for one another makes each other better, a tragic example of the show's themes about the importance of love in the face of the unknown. The end of the episode reinforces this by revealing the surviving Fry revealed the nature of his visions to Leela, ending the season on a romanticized call to adventure as they venture into the multiverse together.

How Futurama Season 12's Timeline Hopping Sets Up Season 13

How The Multiverse Might Change Futurama

Futurama Season 12 Ending Explained: New Multiverse Reveals & What That Fry & Leela Twist Means (5)

Futurama has already been confirmed for at least two more seasons, and the ending of season 12 is a potentially big game-changer for them. If the season continues the thread of the Planet Express Ship adrift across dimensions, season 13 could be a truly explorative batch of episodes. A truly multiversal season could send the crew into all sorts of bizarre adventures or explore potential scenarios that tweak the canon of the series. They could also bring back popular stylistic shifts from anthologies, setting up returns of fan favorites like the Golden Age of animation-inspired "Colorama" versions of the characters.

There's a chance though that Futurama could shifts things back to the status quo, however. It could be similar to how season 7's "Rebirth" immediately resolved season 6's open-ended finale. The show has ignored dramatic stakes frequently over the years, and even ignored its latest apocalyptic plot twist earlier in season 12. It's also possible the multiverse concept takes away from the tighter character focus that's always been one of Futurama's great strengths. Hopefully the multiverse introduction could be a fun direction for Futurama for a while, letting the series push the boundaries without losing what makes the show special.

Futurama Season 12 Ending Explained: New Multiverse Reveals & What That Fry & Leela Twist Means (6)

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Futurama

Futurama follows the exploits of Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from 1999 who is cryogenically frozen for 1000 years. Waking up in the year 3000, Fry befriends a cyclops named Leela and a roguish robot named Bender, and the three find employment with Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery service. Their work takes them to all corners of the universe, exploring space and the future as imagined by Matt Groening and the creators of The Simpsons.

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Cast
Katey Sagal , Billy West , Lauren Tom , Maurice LaMarche , David Herman , Tress MacNeille , John DiMaggio , Phil LaMarr

Release Date
March 28, 1999

Writers
Matt Groening

Directors
Matt Groening

Showrunner
Matt Groening
Futurama Season 12 Ending Explained: New Multiverse Reveals & What That Fry & Leela Twist Means (2024)

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