Bill Nye Declares COVID Pandemic “Officially Over” in ‘Futurama’ Exclusive Clip

Hulu brought Futurama back – and it’s funnier and more relevant than ever! The latest season of Matt Groening’s animated series picks up right where the original series ended in 2012 and has already cycled through several beloved guest characters, including the return of Kwanzaa-Bot, voiced by late rapper Coolio, and Mark Hamill’s Chanukah Zombie. Who’s next? Good news, everybody! It’s Bill Nye – returning to voice Bill Nye’s Head in the show’s hilarious take on the COVID-19 pandemic.

First premiering in 1999, Futurama takes place 1000 years into the future, with the reboot happening in the year 3023.

Our exclusive clip features the citizens of New New York declaring the COVID-19 pandemic to finally be “officially over” with the help of famed scientist Bill Nye. 

The mayor of New New York tells the attendees at the Back to Normal Festival, “I’m proud to present the city’s highest award, the key to the Times Square liquor cabinet, to the super-spreader of truth himself, Bill Nye the Science Head.”

A sign for the event shows that it was planned for 2023 and 2547, but the two dates have been crossed off and replaced with 3023, insinuating that they either occurred and things were, in fact, not back to normal, or that the event was supposed to occur, but ended up being canceled… because things were not… back to normal. 

As Bill Nye’s persevered head is presented to accept the honor, Leela (Katey Segal) thanks him for his work, while coughing into her hand. Bill Nye says into a microphone, “Thank you for this tremendously dubious honor. After what seemed like 1000 years of COVID, but was actually more, I declare the pandemic to be officially over.”

The scientist begins to cough, along with the presenters of the award. The camera pans and the attendees of the event are also coughing. Eventually, all hell breaks loose and a riot begins. Bill Nye takes flight using his spinning bowtie and a set of airplane wings to escape. The scene cuts and an article from the New New York Post appears with the headline, “Sewer Flu Spreading Rapidly.”

Futurama follows the intergalactic adventures of Philip J. Fry (Billy West), a lazy pizza delivery worker who cryogenically preserved himself for 1000 years and wakes up in the future where he works for a company called Planet Express. After the show was canceled in 2013, Hulu revived the series with the original cast and creators, and premiered the first of 10 new episodes on July 24, 2023.

The upcoming episode — Season 11, Episode 7, titled “Rage Against the Vaccine” — guest stars Bill Nye and welcomes the appearance of several side characters including Labarbara, Barbados Slim, Elzar, Dr. Wernstrom, Bonebot, Nixon, and Mayor Poopenmeyer.

Hulu writes in the synopsis, “In the year 3022, New New York finally declares victory over Covid-2019. There’s a large celebration in Central Park, which turns into a super-spreader event for an all-new virus, Explovid-3022… a virus that causes extreme anger. Various solutions are proposed, such as wearing masks… over your ears, in order to avoid hearing things that make you angry. The Professor valiantly invents a vaccine that works using 5G chips to track the virus, but conspiracy theories arise and people refuse to take it.” Meanwhile, Hermes suspects that the virus is a rare form of Zombyism that can only be cured using voodoo. Tune in Monday, September 4, 2023 on Hulu to find out how the Planet Express navigates this madness.

Futurama airs Mondays on Hulu until September 25, 2023.