SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for the Oct. 18 episode of “The Simpsons,” “The Revengening,” which aired Sunday night on Fox. The fan favorite character finally spoke again for the first time in nearly a decade on Sunday night’s episode, “The Revengening.” Variety has exclusively learned who is behind Apu’s new voice: actor and voice-over vet Sunil Malhotra (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Legend of Korra”). Malhotra’s hiring and the return of Apu — who has been seen, but not heard on “The Simpsons” since the October 2017 episode “The Serfsons” — was a closely guarded secret inside “The Simpsons” universe.
Fox didn’t share a screener for “The Revengening,” and producers kept both the episode’s table read and its subsequent production under tight protocols (including NDAs for all involved). Also heard on Sunday’s episode was the debut of Janina Gavankar (“The Morning Show”) as Apu’s wife, Manjula. And now that Apu is back and the Kwik-E-Mart has reopened, executive producer Matt Selman said both characters and the Nahasapeemapetilon family will once again be seen (and heard) on “The Simpsons” more often.
The issue of Apu was the centerpiece of the 2017 documentary “The Problem With Apu,” in which comedian Hari Kondabolu discussed the impact the character has had on people of South Asian descent. After that doc made waves — including in “The Simpsons” writers’ room, where it was screened and discussed — Azaria announced that he would no longer voice Apu. And sometimes I do.” In the aftermath, Apu was shifted to the background on “The Simpsons,” as producers decided how to handle the character going forward.
For years, that meant Apu would still occasionally be seen in Springfield, but never heard. The idea of bringing back Apu this way, as one of this year’s Halloween-themed episodes, came from staffer Nick Dahan (who’s the credited writer on “The Revengening”) and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos. After hearing their pitch, Selman said he thought it was “a brilliant way” to bring Apu back and reference the entire situation.
Voice actor Malhotra said he took time to look into what it would mean to take over Apu and talked to the producers to make sure the character was more culturally appropriate. It had been eight years since Apu had spoken on the show, and it got me thinking: Did the writers’ room look different now? Could they bring him back in a way that acknowledged and apologized for past mistakes?
Could I make the character my own, and reclaim him in some way? And could they achieve all of that in an unmistakably ‘Simpsons’ way that didn’t disappoint fans? Malhotra said that he declined his very first “professional job offer 28 years ago” because it would have required him to play a stereotypical “Hindu guy,” adding that playing such a caricature “to be the butt of the joke wasn’t something I was willing to do, and I’ve turned down similar work multiple times since.” But as Malhotra got further down the road with “The Simpsons,” he said, he began engaging with the producers about their plans for Apu before he would commit to the role, where he was promised that the return of Apu was being handled with the utmost care.
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