Apu Speaks on The Simpsons for the First Time Since 2017. His New Voice, Sunil Malhotra, Says He Was Ready to Walk Away

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon spoke on The Simpsons on Sunday night for the first time since 2017. His new voice is Sunil Malhotra, a veteran of animation and game booths who says he was ready to walk away from the part, and who once turned down his very first job offer because it asked him to play a caricature.

The episode was “Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening,” which aired on Fox on October 18 as a warm-up for next week’s annual Halloween special. A man in a Halloween costume gets accidentally killed all over Springfield, comes back a year later for revenge, and finally pulls off his helmet at City Hall. It’s Apu.

Janina Gavankar, of The Morning Show, made her debut in the same episode as Apu’s wife, Manjula. Both castings were kept quiet until the episode went out. Fox didn’t send critics a screener, and everyone at the table read signed an NDA.

Image: 20th Television Animation / Fox

“The idea actually made my stomach sink”

Malhotra was born in India and grew up near Chicago. Viewers may know his face from Grey’s Anatomy, House and ER, but most of his work is behind a microphone: The Legend of Korra, The Legend of Vox Machina, Monster High, The Loud House and Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, plus games including Mortal Kombat 1 and The Outer Worlds 2.

He knew what the audition was before anyone told him. “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 said. “But admittedly, part of me was also curious.”

The questions he asked himself are the ones plenty of actors ask before taking over a famous voice with a complicated past. “Did the writers’ room look different now? Could they bring him back in a way that acknowledged and apologized for past mistakes? Could I make the character my own, and reclaim him in some way?”

He had walked away before. Malhotra said he declined his first professional job offer, 28 years ago, because it would have meant playing a stereotypical “Hindu guy.” Being “the butt of the joke wasn’t something I was willing to do,” he told Variety, which broke the news, “and I’ve turned down similar work multiple times since.”

A condition before he said yes

This time he set terms. “I told casting that I’d only consider an offer if I could meet showrunner Matt Selman and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos, both of whom gladly did so,” he said. “It 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.”

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That last line is the one many South Asian viewers will recognize. Apu was one of the show’s best loved characters for decades, and for many of the people he was meant to represent, he was also the joke they heard at school.

The idea of bringing him back inside a Halloween episode came from staff writer Nick Dahan, the credited writer, and Mazariegos. Selman called it “a brilliant way” to bring Apu back. “We love this character, and wanted to bring him back in a smart, ‘Simpsons’-y way that allowed him to evolve,” he said. “We’re excited by what Sunil has already brought to the role, and look forward to seeing more of Apu in the future.”

Selman also says Apu, Manjula and the rest of the Nahasapeemapetilon family will be seen and heard more often now that the Kwik-E-Mart has reopened.

Nine years seen but not heard

Hank Azaria voiced Apu for close to 30 years. The turning point was Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu, in which South Asian comedians and actors talked about how the character shaped the way people saw them. The film was screened and discussed in The Simpsons’ own writers’ room.

Apu’s last spoken line came in “The Serfsons” in October 2017. After that he stayed in the background. In a 2018 episode, Lisa and Marge looked straight at the audience beside a photo of Apu and suggested that “Some things will be dealt with at a later date,” which many viewers read as the producers admitting they didn’t know what to do.

Azaria confirmed in February 2020 that he was stepping away. “Once I realized that that was the way this character was thought of, I just didn’t want to participate in it anymore,” he told The New York Times, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. “It just didn’t feel right.”

Image: Fox

The following year, on the Armchair Expert podcast, he went further. “I apologize for my part in creating that and participating in that,” Azaria said. “Part of me feels like I need to go to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize. And sometimes I do.”

Springfield’s other new voices

Apu isn’t the first Springfield regular to change hands. In June 2020 the show said characters of color would be voiced by culturally appropriate actors from then on. Alex Désert took over Carl Carlson from Azaria, and Kevin Michael Richardson, already in the cast, became Dr. Julius Hibbert, a part Harry Shearer had played.

The Revengening quietly adds two more to that list. Eric Lopez, who earlier took over Bumblebee Man, now voices Dr. Nick, the quack who nurses Apu back to health on “The Island of Forgotten Garbage.” And Manjula, voiced in the past by Jan Hooks and Tress MacNeille, now has Gavankar.

The episode doesn’t pretend the gap never happened. Marge apologizes to Apu for the whole town, Bart says they “were so scared, and just didn’t know what to do,” and Lenny admits they had “so many internal conversations about it.” Carl finishes the thought: they “kind of just didn’t go anywhere.”

“I AM APU!”

For Malhotra, the big moment in the booth was the unmasking. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the sweetest part of all was unleashing that righteously rage-fueled ‘I AM APU!’, on behalf of so many of us, over and over in the studio until we got it just right,” he said. “I really feel like we did and I can’t wait for fans to see more Apu.”

Malhotra and Gavankar shared the reveal together on Instagram on Sunday. Malhotra called it “a reclamation,” adding, “It truly IS his homecoming.” Gavankar wrote that “after 22 years of friendship, I know Sunil is the perfect person to bring Apu home.”

A post shared by Sunil Malhotra and Janina Gavankar on Instagram

Early reaction has been warm. One viewer quoted by Variety summed it up in five words: “Apu is back thank you Simpsons.” Another called the reveal “the greatest thing to happen on the Simpsons in a long time.” And a reader under Deadline’s story had a voice actor’s compliment: “He sounds more like Apu than Homer currently sounds like Homer.”

What it means in the booth

For working voice actors, the story is bigger than one cartoon shopkeeper. A long-running show has now recast one of its most famous voices with an actor from the community the character comes from, and that actor got to set conditions, ask the questions he wanted answered and meet the people in charge before he signed.

That doesn’t happen to everyone who’s offered a part they find uncomfortable. But Malhotra’s account is a useful reminder that saying no early, and saying it more than once, can be what makes a later yes worth something.

The Simpsons’ annual “Treehouse of Horror XXXVII” airs next Sunday on Fox.

Sources: Variety, “‘The Simpsons’ Surprise: Apu Is Heard for the First Time in Nearly a Decade, as Sunil Malhotra Takes Over for Hank Azaria” (October 18, 2026); Deadline, “The New Apu Makes His Debut Tonight On ‘The Simpsons'” (October 18, 2026); The Hollywood Reporter, “Apu is Back! Veteran Voice Actor Sunil Malhotra Revives ‘The Simpsons’ Character After Nearly 10 Years” (October 19, 2026); TVLine (October 18, 2026); ComicBook.com (October 18, 2026); Sunil Malhotra and Janina Gavankar on Instagram (October 18, 2026). Images: 20th Television Animation / Fox.

Lee este artículo en español: Apu vuelve a hablar en Los Simpson por primera vez desde 2017. Su nueva voz, Sunil Malhotra, dice que estaba listo para rechazar el papel

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