Apu Returns to ‘The Simpsons’ Under a ‘Daft Monk’ Helmet, Voiced by Sunil Malhotra

Spoilers ahead. In Sunday night’s Simpsons, Springfield accidentally kills a man in a “Daft Monk” costume, a Daft Punk-style helmet and monastic robe, over and over, and a year later he is back for revenge. When he finally takes the helmet off at City Hall, it’s Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, who hasn’t spoken on the show since October 2017, Variety reports.

The voice belongs to Sunil Malhotra, a voice-over veteran whose credits include League of Legends, Halo: Reach and Mortal Kombat 1, per Deadline, plus Grey’s Anatomy on TV. He takes over from Hank Azaria in “The Revengening,” a prelude to next week’s Halloween episode, and Janina Gavankar of The Morning Show debuts as Apu’s wife, Manjula.

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Azaria voiced Apu for close to 30 years, until Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu ignited a backlash over how the character represented South Asians. He said in January 2020 that he would stop, per TVLine, and told Armchair Expert the next year: “I apologize for my part in creating that and participating in that.” Watch the documentary’s trailer below.

Malhotra nearly said no. “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 told Variety. He would only consider the job after meeting showrunner Matt Selman and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos, who had pitched the return with writer Nick Dahan. “Whether the producers knew it or not, I was prepared to walk away,” he said.

Selman, in a statement: “We love this character, and wanted to bring him back in a smart, ‘Simpsons’-y way that allowed him to evolve.” Apu and Manjula will be heard regularly again, per Rolling Stone.

The apology, Springfield style

The episode says sorry the way the show does. Marge, standing in for the town and the writers’ room alike, tells him: “Apu, we’re so sorry we left you for dead. Believe me, we wanted to do the right thing.” Lenny chips in, “If it’s any consolation, we had so many internal conversations about it,” and Carl finishes the thought: “Ahh, they kind of just didn’t go anywhere.” Homer’s penance has a musical note: “You were on our bowling teams, our barbershop quartets, our dad rock cover bands.”

In the dream’s garbage heap, Dr. Nick asks, “If you wound up here, it’s for a reason, right, Leon?” Out pops the character Michael Jackson played in the Season 3 episode “Stark Raving Mad,” pulled from rotation in 2019 after the documentary Leaving Neverland. Then Apu wakes up: it was a nightmare, the Kwik-E-Mart is open, and there’s a “Daft Monk” costume under the register.

Apu joins a recasting the show began in June 2020, when it said characters of color would be voiced by culturally appropriate actors, and Alex Désert took over Carl from Azaria. Next up is next week’s Treehouse of Horror XXXVII.