Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is talking again. After almost nine years of silent cameos at the edges of Springfield, the Kwik-E-Mart owner returned with a new voice in “The Revengening”, the third episode of The Simpsons’ 38th season, which aired Sunday night on Fox. Sunil Malhotra, a voice and screen actor whose credits include Grey’s Anatomy and The Legend of Korra, takes over a role Hank Azaria played for the show’s first 29 seasons.
Apu’s last spoken line came in “The Serfsons” in October 2017. That same year, Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem With Apu examined how the character had shaped perceptions of South Asian Americans, many of whom grew up hearing his catchphrases used against them. Azaria later stepped away from the part, and in a 2021 podcast appearance he expressed regret, saying he felt he owed an apology to Indian people across the country. The show’s own first response did not go over well. A 2018 episode had Lisa shrug off the controversy as old material being judged by new standards, and critics read that as the series dodging the criticism rather than dealing with it.
This time the writers addressed it head-on, using a horror premise. In the Halloween-themed episode, a figure in a Daft Punk-style costume is accidentally killed over and over by Springfield residents, then comes back a year later to take revenge on them one by one. When the mask comes off, it is Apu. He accuses the town of leaving him for dead and acting as though he never existed. Marge apologizes and says they wanted to do the right thing, and Bart admits they were scared and didn’t know how. The scene is barely an allegory. It is the producers apologizing through their characters, and how well that works will depend on the viewer.
Producers kept the return quiet, with the table read and production under strict nondisclosure agreements. The idea came from staffer Nick Hahan and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos. Executive producer Matt Selman has said the aim was to let Apu evolve and that more appearances are planned.
Malhotra has said he was uneasy when the audition came in and only agreed after he was convinced the writers would handle the history honestly. He says he hopes the episode reaches South Asian viewers who, like him, stopped watching the show at some point.
The episode’s line “I am Apu” works as a mission statement, but the real test comes later. The series has already recast other characters since deciding in 2020 that white actors would no longer voice characters of color. The open question is whether Apu now gets real storylines, or whether this episode becomes a one-off apology followed by more background cameos.
