Futurama Is Bringing Back A Celebrity Guest Star Who Confused Fans Last Season

Since its premiere on Fox 25 years ago, Matt Groening's "Futurama" has been one of the most consistently funny shows on television — even though, much to the consternation of its die-hard fans, it's never aired with any degree of consistency. This is due in large part to its unabashed nerdiness. Though its satirical targets are as timely and universal as those skewered on Groening's seemingly immortal "The Simpsons" (which will begin its 36th season this fall), the series caters not just to science fiction geeks but full-on science geeks. This is, after all, a show that created its own theorem (in the season 6 classic "The Prisoner of Benda")! So while the series has a fiercely devoted fan base, it's never been a crossover hit, which is why it's only managed nine seasons as it's bounced around from network to network to (now) Hulu

It's hard to knock the "Futurama" faithful for a loop, but sometimes the series does something so randomly silly that the fans take to social media en masse to register their bafflement. One such WTF moment arrived in the most recent season, when viewers noticed model-actor Cara Delevingne appeared as a voice on two separate episodes despite not having a discernible line of dialogue in either. Folks eventually figured out that she'd provided a scream as the robot in "The Impossible Stream" — which, while amusing, seemed like a waste of her talent. Delevingne is a movie star with sci-fi bona fides via her performance in "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets"! If she's down to lend her cool cred to the nerdiest animated series on television, why not give her a proper speaking role?

According to producer David X. Cohen, "Futurama" will do precisely this in the forthcoming season 12.

In an interview for the latest issue of SFX, Cohen revealed that Delevingne will appear as herself (head only, natch) on an episode titled "Attack of the Clothes." What's it all about? Per Cohen:

"We have a fast-fashion episode about the price we may pay in the future for our disposable clothing that we're now wearing. She came in to play her head, which gets attached to a Frankenstein's monster-like creature that the Professor creates. The unexpected direction that one goes in is that it's very hard to find clothing for this misshapen creature. So the Professor has to create this specialized clothing, and that becomes a hit."

The fashion scene is a strange new world for the "Futurama" team to explore. "To me, it's like a classic 'Futurama' episode with subject matter we've never touched before," said Cohen. "We're still finding some things to comment on that we haven't hit yet in the first 160 episodes."

The idea of the Professor becoming a haute couture hit sounds like an inspired bit of comedic business for the series. As for finally giving Delevingne a sizable speaking part, perhaps this will be the casting coup that at long last expands the "Futurama" fan base. After all, while Delevingne is a star in her own right, she's also tight with the pop cultural empress of the world, Taylor Swift. Could a Swiftie influx be on the horizon for Fry, Bender and the motley Planet Express crew?