Springfield’s longtime convenience store clerk has his voice back. After nearly a decade of silent background appearances, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon spoke once again on Sunday’s episode of “The Simpsons,” with Indian American voice actor Sunil Malhotra taking over the part, Variety reported.
The return in Sunday’s episode, titled “The Revengening,” ended an eight-year speaking absence for the Kwik-E-Mart operator. Hank Azaria, a white actor who voiced Apu for nearly three decades, stepped away from the character after comedian Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary, “The Problem With Apu,” highlighted how the depiction fueled painful stereotypes and slurs against South Asian Americans.
A dramatic unmasking
Producers kept Malhotra’s casting under strict secrecy, bypassing advance screeners and requiring non-disclosure agreements during production, according to Variety. The episode also introduced Indian American actor Janina Gavankar as the new voice of Apu’s wife, Manjula.
The horror-themed storyline directly acknowledged the character’s prolonged exile. A masked figure in a monk’s robe and helmet terrorizes Springfield before unmasking at City Hall to reveal Apu. “I am the man you left for dead,” Apu tells the assembled crowd. “I am the one you pretended never existed!”
Springfield residents offer apologies for leaving him behind, with characters acknowledging extensive internal discussions that stalled for years. While the vengeance plot ultimately resolves as a nightmare, Apu awakens inside the Kwik-E-Mart alongside Manjula and Homer Simpson, who warmly invites him back into community life.
“Bringing Apu back feels like a reclamation,” Malhotra and Gavankar said Sunday in a joint post on Instagram. “It truly IS his homecoming.”
Evolving after years of debate
Malhotra, an experienced voice performer whose credits include video games such as “Mortal Kombat 1” and television series like “Grey’s Anatomy,” told Deadline he initially felt trepidation about the audition. He said he was ready to step aside if the creative team did not handle the role respectfully.
Malhotra described meeting with showrunner Matt Selman and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos to ensure the comeback acknowledged past missteps, calling the final process a deeply collaborative effort.
“We love this character and wanted to bring him back in a smart, Simpsons-y way that allowed him to evolve,” Selman said in a statement. “We’re excited by what Sunil has already brought to the role and look forward to seeing more of Apu in the future.”
In 2020, Fox announced that white actors would no longer voice nonwhite characters on the animated series, prompting recastings for Black figures such as Carl Carlson and Dr. Julius Hibbert, ABC News reported. Azaria explained at the time that continuing in the role “just didn’t feel right” once he recognized the harm caused by the portrayal.
Response to the return
Kondabolu, whose film sparked the industrywide examination of the role, welcomed the show’s decision to hire Malhotra and Gavankar.
“I’m also still proud of the public conversation about race and representation my documentary started,” Kondabolu told The Associated Press in an email, adding that he hoped the resolution would stem years of hostile messages sent to him by disgruntled fans.
Apu’s revival comes as advocacy groups like Stop AAPI Hate document a recent surge in racist language and threats aimed at South Asians in the U.S., ABC News reported. Media scholars noted that while Apu once stood as one of the few visible representations of South Asians on American television in the 1990s, today’s entertainment landscape features far wider representation across major series.
Selman confirmed that both Apu and the Nahasapeemapetilon family will resume regular appearances in future episodes of “The Simpsons.”
