For the First Time Since 2017, Apu Speaks on The Simpsons

Apu just said a lot more than "thank you, come again." The Simpsons reintroduced Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on Sunday's Halloween-themed episode, giving the character his first speaking role since 2017 and unveiling Indian-born US actor Sunil Malhotra as his new voice, Variety reports. Janina Gavankar also debuted as Apu's wife, Manjula, who was previously voiced by Jan Hooks and Tress MacNeille. The return was kept under wraps with NDAs and no advance screeners, and the storyline doubles as the show's acknowledgment of the years-long controversy over Apu's depiction.

• In 2018, Hank Azaria, who is white, said he was "perfectly willing to step aside" from the role. On the Armchair Expert podcast in 2021, he apologized for his part in perpetuating stereotypes about South Asians. "Part of me feels like I need to go to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize," he said. "And sometimes I do."

Producers say Apu and his family will now be back in regular rotation, with Malhotra stressing he only signed on after assurances that the character would be handled more thoughtfully. "When my agent called me about a Simpsons audition, I knew exactly what role it was for, and the idea actually made my stomach sink," he says. Malhotra says he declined his first "professional job offer 28 years ago" because he refused to play a stereotypical "Hindu guy," and he has "turned down similar work multiple times since."

• But meeting with Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos, he says, was "the beginning of a deeply collaborative experience that I hope is equally satisfying for longtime fans of The Simpsons and for other South Asian kids who, like me, stopped watching at some point along the way."
• Gavanker and Malhotra shared the news in a joint Instagram post depicting themselves and the characters under a "Homecoming" banner, the Guardian reports. "Bringing Apu back feels like a reclamation. It truly IS his homecoming," Malhotra wrote.
• Click for Variety's full story, which has major spoilers for Sunday's "The Revengening" episode.