Photo: FOX / The Simpsons via YouTube (frame grab).
“Thank you, come again” — he’s back! Apu Nahasapeemapetilon spoke on The Simpsons for the first time in about nine years on Sunday night, October 18, in the Halloween episode “Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening” — and he returned with a brand-new voice.
Actor Sunil Malhotra has taken over the role of Springfield’s beloved Kwik-E-Mart owner, stepping in for Hank Azaria, who voiced Apu for decades before stepping away in 2020. The character had been silent ever since the debate sparked by the 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu, which questioned the character’s stereotypical portrayal. And Apu isn’t the only fresh voice in the family — Janina Gavankar also debuted Sunday night as Apu’s wife, Manjula.
Photo: FOX / The Simpsons via YouTube (frame grab).
Malhotra told Variety the audition call made his “stomach sink” — but he also saw a chance to reclaim the character and do right by him. Judging by Sunday’s episode, where a disguised Apu comes back to declare that Springfield left him behind and forgotten, the show knew it had to address the long silence head-on — in unmistakably Simpsons fashion.
Watch the official clip from Apu’s big return:
Photo: FOX / The Simpsons via YouTube (frame grab).
And this isn’t a one-and-done cameo. Executive producer Matt Selman says the Nahasapeemapetilon family will appear — and be heard — more often going forward. After nearly a decade of silence, one of TV’s most famous shopkeepers finally has his voice back.
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