The Simpsons Brings Apu Back After Nearly a Decade, and the New Voice Has a Story

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon hasn’t said a word on The Simpsons since 2017, and that silence ended Sunday night in the most unexpected way. During“Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening,”the show revealed Apu as the vengeful“Daft Monk”returning to Springfield for payback, with a brand-new voice: Sunil Malhotra. Hank Azaria, who voiced the character for decades, stepped away from the role in 2020 after years of criticism about the character’s stereotyping, and the show kept Apu off screen ever since.

The comeback came with real thought behind it. Malhotra says he was prepared to walk away from the role over stereotype concerns before taking it, and executive producer Matt Selman told Variety that Apu and Manjula will play a greater part in the series going forward. That’s a big shift for a character who became the center of a decade-long conversation about representation, one that started with comedian Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem with Apu.

So the question now is what that bigger role actually looks like. Fans who grew up quoting Apu lines and critics who wanted more from the character are both watching, and the show seems to know it. What do you think, did The Simpsons handle Apu’s return the right way?