Futurama's Lauren Tom Had One Worry About Amy Going Into The Revival
There were plenty of obstacles to bringing "Futurama" back for season 11, as there always are when a show's been off the air for nearly a decade. First, there was the pay dispute between Hulu and John DiMaggio, and then there was the fact that all the voice actors have (of course) aged 10 years since their last appearance. Although no cast member on "Futurama" has struggled as much as some of the performers on modern "Simpsons," you can still hear the strain on Billy West's characters in particular. Fry's voice is slower and deeper than it used to be, as is Professor Farnsworth's. It's not that bad if you haven't watched any older episodes recently before starting the revival, but the difference is jarring when you finish a new episode and then return to a scene in the pilot.
Lauren Tom, who voices the loveable Martian physicist Amy, had the same basic issue as West. "I'm worried because my voice is so much higher than then than it is now," she recalled telling the showrunners in a July 2023 interview with Syfy. Like most people, Lauren Tom's voice has grown deeper as she's gotten older, which is a problem when the character she's playing is the same age she's always been. (Well, technically. The show's floating timeline makes everything a little strange.)
But for showrunner David X. Cohen, Lauren Tom's deeper voice wasn't a concern. "We don't worry about that because we feel like the characters settle into where they should be, eventually, and it ends up being usually a little bit closer to who you are," Lauren Tom recalls him saying. She then concluded, "So my natural tone right now is about where Amy is right now."
Is there truth to Cohen's words?
Admittedly, it's easy to be skeptical of what Cohen said there, especially given all the other TV shows where this doesn't feel applicable. It's hard to watch the latest seasons of "The Simpsons" and tell yourself that this is what Marge's voice "should be," that this is an example of Julie Kavner settling into the role. It seems clear, in that case at least, that most of the characters' strained voices in recent years are the result of the show going on too long.
For "Futurama," though, there's a slightly better case to be made here. As high-pitched as Farnsworth and Fry's voices are in that first season, one can definitely argue that their lower voices in subsequent seasons are a stronger fit for the characters. And even though it seems weird for Fry's voice to have deepened so much in season 11 despite his lack of aging, the evolution still fits when you think of it as a reflection of Fry's character growth over the show. Fry might technically still be in his mid-20s, but over the past 24 years, he's matured quite a bit. A slightly older voice serves as a subtle reminder of how much he's changed over the years.
Although Amy's voice change is far less noticeable, you can still make this case with her. Amy of season 11 is a busy married mother with a Ph.D., not the lighthearted student/intern she was in season 1. Her subtly deeper voice helps remind us that although "Futurama" runs on a floating timeline, the years have indeed made a meaningful impact on Amy, just like they've had on the rest of the cast.