The cast of cult TV animated hit Futurama is returning to TV, with 26 new episodes set to debut beginning in mid-2010. (Matt Groening/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp/Associated Press)

Fry, Bender and their 31st century friends will awaken next year, with Comedy Central and 20th Century Fox to bring the popular animated TV comedy Futurama back to life.

Executives cited fan demand as the reason for the return of the satirical sci-fi cartoon, which has had solid ratings in re-runs and enjoyed brisk DVD sales. The revival is being likened to Fox's decision to return cancelled animated comedy Family Guy to its schedule.

"When we brought back Family Guy several years ago, everyone said that it was a once-in-a lifetime thing — that cancelled series stay cancelled and cannot be revived," Fox chair Gary Newman said, according to trade paper Hollywood Reporter.

"But Futurama was another series that fans simply demanded we bring back."

Matt Groening, the man behind venerable animated series The Simpsons, and David X. Cohen teamed up to create Futurama, which Fox aired from 1999 through 2003 and also sold on DVD.

In 2006, Comedy Central acquired the rights to the 72 original episodes and rebroadcast them in 2008. They also commissioned four new, extended-length specials.

Groening and Cohen will return to produce 26 new half-hour episodes, which are expected to air on Comedy Central beginning in mid-2010.

Set in New New York City in the year 3000, Futurama explores the adventures of Phillip J. Fry, a 20th century slacker and pizza delivery man who awakens after being accidentally frozen for 1,000 years. He befriends an outrageous robot named Bender and joins a group of human and alien misfits who work in shipping (via spacecraft).

With files from The Associated Press