Futurama was originally focused on Philip J. Fry, the time-displaced pizza man revealed to be the universe’s Chosen One. The show often shifted its spotlight onto the rest of the cast, though, giving characters like Leela, the perpetually offensive but hilarious Bender, Professor Farnsworth, or Dr. Zoidberg major plotlines. But the most underutilized was Amy Wong, introduced as the party girl who’s also Farnsworth’s assistant.
Amy was one of the more minor members of the Planet Express crew — but with the upcoming revival of the series on Hulu offering the prospect of character development and spotlights, she should finally get the chance to be completely explored. There’s plenty of potential in her character that’s been sitting untapped for years.
Amy was nominally one of the more socially acceptable members of Futurama‘s core cast. The airheaded daughter of a wealthy Martian family, Amy’s status as Professor Farnsworth’s grad student was rarely touched upon in the early stretch of the series. Instead, she largely filled a minor but adaptable place in the undervalued Planet Express crew. She provided a fun foil to the far more serious Leela, annoying and inadvertently insulting her as much as she helped or complimented her. Amy briefly served as a romantic interest to Fry in Season 2, but her most enduring plotline was her romance with Kif Kroker, the perpetually put-upon assistant to boisterous military clod Zapp Brannigan.
Meeting (and immediately kissing) as a gag in Season 1’s “A Flight to Remember,” Amy and Kif formally began a romance in Season 3’s premiere “Amazon Women in the Mood.” They would remain largely romantically tied together for the remainder of the series apart from Amy’s brief grieving hookup with Zapp when Kif was believed dead in Season 5’s “The Beast With a Billion Backs” and a short-lived fling with Bender in Season 6’s “Proposition Infinity.” Season 6 also saw Amy finally gain her doctorate from Mars University in “That Darn Katz.” However, there were plenty of new directions Futurama could have taken her in that it never did.
Season 4’s “Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch” revealed that in Kif’s species the males become pregnant — resulting in him giving birth to a number of tadpoles that were implied to one day become Amy and Kif’s family (despite the fact that it was accidental contact with Leela that had impregnated Kif). But that lingering thread was never explored. Nor was Amy’s upgrade to Dr. Wong or any particular scientific explorations of her own. Many episodes dove into Amy’s complicated relationship with her parents and their history of taking advantage of native Martians, but that was always resolved or ignored in following episodes. Even the psychotic Robot Santa got more character development in his appearances.
Futurama’s revival is the perfect opportunity for the show to fully explore the character depth and growth Amy could have. Her personal scientific ideas could be explored in the new episodes, diving into what separates her from Farnsworth and other inventors like Wernstrom. He relationship with her family could take on a more modern approach, like finally cutting her off from her parent’s wealth. Her relationship with Kif could also take a step towards a family, with Kif’s spawn reaching a point in childhood where Kif and Amy could raise them. It’d be interesting to see Amy, the most relaxed and easy-going member of the cast, finally face the prospect of growing up — especially if Fry retains the growth and maturity he earned in the show’s final stretch.
Hulu’s Futurama revival is expected to premiere in 2023.
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