Sad news, everyone.  Comedy Central has opted not to renew Futurama for an eighth season, effectively cancelling the animated series that found new life on the cable network.  The series initially ran for four seasons on Fox before being cancelled due to low ratings, but its popularity soared with reruns on Adult Swim, and Comedy Central subsequently revived the show for four feature-length films (which, divided into half-hour episodes, make up the fifth season) and eventually a sixth and seventh season.

The final batch of 13 episodes, which represent the second half of season seven, will begin airing on June 19th (watch the trailer here), with the series finale set for September 4th.  Executive producer David X. Cohen and creator Matt Groening weren’t exactly surprised by the news of Comedy Central’s decision not to renew, but they feel like these are their best episodes yet and may indeed look for yet another home for Futurama.  Hit the jump to see what they had to say.

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News of Futurama’s cancellation comes via EW, who spoke with Cohen and Groening about the decision:

“We’ve been in this situation before and it’s tempting when you’re doing episodes that are as good or better than anything you’ve ever done to continue doing it,” Groening tells EW. “We’re catching our breath and seeing what the fans have to say. The experience of this show has been so much fun from the very beginning to now — everybody is so happy to work on this show — that it’d be a shame if we all went our separate ways… We would love to continue. We have many more stories to tell. But if we don’t, this is a really great way to go out… I think these episodes are the best ones we’ve ever done.”

Nevertheless, Groening adds that if this indeed the end, the series finale is "satisfying" and "epic."  Of course, Groening and Cohen have already written Futurama’s series finale twice before, once when it was going off the air on Fox (season four’s “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings”) and once when the four films came to an end with the conclusion of Into the Wild Green Yonder.  I’d love to see Futurama continue just because I adore the characters, but seven seasons is certainly an impressive run—especially considering the wild ups and downs the show has gone through over the years.

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