Apu speaks again on The Simpsons, nine years after Hank Azaria last voiced him

Apu spoke on The Simpsons on Sunday. The voice was new: Sunil Malhotra has taken over from Hank Azaria, Variety revealed after the episode aired.

The return came in "The Revengening," a spooky lead-up to this season's "Treehouse of Horror XXXVII." A man in a "Daft Monk" costume, a Daft Punk helmet with a monk's robe, keeps getting accidentally killed by Springfield residents. A year later he is back, taking revenge one by one. He gathers the town at City Hall and takes off the helmet. It is Apu.

Fox did not send out a screener. According to Variety, the table read and the production ran under tight protocols, with NDAs for everyone involved.

Azaria stopped voicing Apu more than two years before he quit

The coverage of the return gives three different answers to a simple question: how long was Apu silent?

• "Through 2020": TVLine writes that Azaria voiced Apu from the show's premiere through 2020, when he stepped aside.
• "Eight years": Malhotra, in his statement to Variety, says it had been eight years since Apu had spoken on the show.
• "Nearly a decade": Variety's headline.

The answer sits further down both articles. Variety says Apu had been seen but not heard since the October 2017 episode "The Serfsons." TVLine itself says Azaria's last performance as Apu aired in October 2017. It also says Azaria announced in January 2020 that he would no longer play the part.

So from late 2017 to early 2020, Azaria still officially held the role, and Apu still had nothing to say. The silence started more than two years before the resignation. From "The Serfsons" to Sunday is nine years.

The show wrote its own excuse into the episode

Before Apu can burn down City Hall, Springfield apologizes, and the apology sounds a lot like a writers' room. Marge: "Believe me, we wanted to do the right thing." Bart: "But we were so scared, and just didn't know what to do." Lenny: "If it's any consolation, we had so many internal conversations about it." Carl: "Ahh, they kind of just didn't go anywhere."

It is not the first time. In the 2018 episode "No Good Read Goes Unpunished," Lisa and Marge looked at the audience, with a photo of Apu by Lisa's bed, and suggested that some things "will be dealt with at a later date… if at all." Apu and his children appeared in that episode. They did not speak.

The later date was October 18, 2026. Apu then wakes up: it was a nightmare. He is back at the reopened Kwik-E-Mart, Manjula is there, Homer invites him to a Halloween party. And there is a "Daft Monk" costume under the cash register.

The new voice was ready to say no

Malhotra told Variety the audition call made his stomach sink. He said he turned down his first professional job offer, 28 years ago, because it meant playing a stereotypical "Hindu guy," and that he went into the process prepared to walk away. He told casting he would only consider an offer if he could meet showrunner Matt Selman and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos. Both met him.

• Who wrote it: staffer Nick Dahan is the credited writer. The idea came from Dahan and Mazariegos.
• Manjula: Janina Gavankar (The Morning Show) made her debut in the role in the same episode.
• Malhotra's credits: Grey's Anatomy, The Legend of Korra, The Legend of Vox Machina, Monster High, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi.
• Earlier recasts: in June 2020 the show said characters of color would be voiced by culturally appropriate actors. Alex Désert took over Carl from Azaria. Kevin Michael Richardson became Dr. Hibbert, previously voiced by Harry Shearer.
• Dr. Nick, who heals Apu in the episode, is now voiced by Eric Lopez, who earlier took over Bumblebee Man.

How Apu got here

The character had been criticized for years as a stereotype. Comedian Hari Kondabolu's 2017 film The Problem With Apu made waves, including in The Simpsons writers' room, where, per Variety, it was screened and discussed. In 2021, on the podcast Armchair Expert, Azaria said: "I apologize for my part in creating that and participating in that."

Selman now says Apu and the Nahasapeemapetilon family will be seen and heard more often. "We love this character, and wanted to bring him back in a smart, 'Simpsons'-y way that allowed him to evolve," he told Variety.

What is still unknown

• When Apu speaks next. Selman promises "more often"; no episodes are named.
• Whether Apu's children, last seen in silence, get voices too.
• Whether the costume under the register means the revenge happened.

Apu's comeback ends with the town unsure whether any of it was real. For nine years, viewers watching him stand silently in the background were not sure either.