`Futurama` Reaches Agreement With Cast Members

Three of the five `Futurama` actors on Friday reached an agreement to reprise their parts on the show.

After a standoff over salary between actors and producers, animated series "Futurama" will return to Comedy Central with its original voice cast.

Three of the five "Futurama" actors -- Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille -- on Friday reached an agreement with producing studio 20th Century Fox TV to reprise their parts on the show, set to return with new episodes in mid-2010.

The deals for the other two cast members, John DiMaggio and Billy West, were expected to close by end of day Friday.

Financial terms of the agreements were not released, but it is understood that both sides have made compromises to bridge the initial salary gap.

The dispute between the "Futurama" voice cast and 20th TV escalated earlier this month when the studio hired casting directors to recast the roles.

At the show's panel at the recent Comic-Con pop-culture convention, "Futurama" co-creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen spoke in support of the actors and expressed optimism that the salary dispute would be resolved so they could return.

The negotiation echoes similar salary scuffles between 20th TV and the cast of Groening's long-running animated comedy "The Simpsons," which also have resulted in an agreement between the two sides.