For the first time in almost a decade, fans of “The Simpsons” will once again hear from the former owner of the Kwik-E-Mart.
But they won’t hear Hank Azaria.
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has a new actor voicing him, Sunil Malhotra, who has done characters on “Star Wars: Tales of The Jedi” and “The Legend of Vox Machina,” The New York Times reported.
Apu has been silent for nearly a decade after a documentary took a look at the effects of a white actor voicing the character and the bigger debate of how the entertainment industry looks at people of South Asian descent, the Times said.
Azaria spoke about the controversy and pledged not to do the voice again.
“I think the documentary made some really interesting points and gave us a lot of things to think about,” Azaria told TMZ in 2017.
In 2021, he said he would not voice Apu again, saying, “Part of me feels like I need to go to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize.”
The character returns in the newest installment of the long-running show’s annual Halloween special, “Treehouse of Horror.” The segment featuring Apu is “The Revengening” and sees him get payback on Springfield.
“I am Apu!” he bellows as he takes off a helmet.
“You thought you could just get rid of me? That I’d disappear?” he asks the assembled residents of Springfield. “That there wouldn’t be consequences for the horrible thing you did?”
Apu is not the only character with a new voice actor on the show. Apu’s wife Manjula, who had been voiced by Jan Hooks and Tress MacNeille, is now voiced by Janina Gavankar.
But Malhotra told Variety he’s been offered other opportunities to voice South Asian characters, which he declined when he thought they were caricatures.
“It had been eight years since Apu had spoken on the show, and it got me thinking: Did the writers’ room look different now?” Malhotra said. “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?”
“The Simpsons” executive producer Matt Selman told Variety, “We love this character, and wanted to bring him back in a smart, ‘Simpsons’-y way that allowed him to evolve. We’re excited by what Sunil has already brought to the role, and look forward to seeing more of Apu in the future.”
Malhotra, in an Instagram post, said, “Bringing Apu back feels like a reclamation. It truly IS his homecoming.”
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