Futurama S11: Who Voices The Chanukah Zombie & Why Does He Sound So Familiar?
Contains Spoilers for "Futurama" Season 11, Episode 6 — "I Know What You Did Next X-Mas"
It's tough being the Chanukah Zombie in the world of "Futurama." Not only are you stuck playing second fiddle to Robot Santa (John DiMaggio) every X-Mas, but you end up getting drafted into intergalactic wars at the drop of the hat when the holiday season is threatened. But at least you get to fly around in a cool ship — even if you're stuck having your holiday special hijacked by yet another explanation of why Robot Santa is Robot Santa. But then again, it's not as if the Chanukah Zombie doesn't live an interesting life — after all, he's wanted by the police and his eyes can turn red at the slightest provocation.
As if you didn't guess from the TIE Fighter-style starship the Chanukah Zombie brags about during "Bender's Big Score!," he's voiced by "Star Wars" legend and voice acting guru Mark Hamill. The world of animation has allowed Hamill to be a teenage surfer, a fairy king, a malicious clown, and even a highly stylized version of himself. After spending so many years in the voice-acting booth, he definitely sounds familiar for a very good reason.
Corey Anders (Jeannie, 1973)
On top of his successful live-action acting career, Mark Hamill has been working as a voice actor since 1972, when he began performing background and additional voices for "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" after completing college. This led to a long and fruitful partnership between Hamill and Hanna-Barbera, which resulted in his first regular role with the production company. That's him as teenager Corey Anders on the "I Dream of Jeannie" sequel series "Jeannie."
The show features a suddenly red-haired Jeannie (Julie McWhirter, stepping in for Barbara Eden) being discovered by teenager Corey, who loves surfing, girls, and athletic contests of all sorts. Jeannie, as always, is a jealous genie and tries to intervene whenever Corey shows interest in someone else or tries to accomplish tasks without her assistance, and chaos typically ensues. Hamill also got to sing the show's theme song.
The part was the foot in the door Hamill needed to get ahead in the voice-acting world. "This was big for me!" he told Rotten Tomatoes in 2019. The actor, who says he grew up watching shows like "The Wonderful World of Disney" and became fascinated with Hollywood through them, got to meet a lot of his idols in the studio, to his delight.
While "Jeannie" only lasted for a single 13-episode season, Hamill's relationship with Hanna-Barbera continues onward. He's appeared in multiple Scooby-Doo and Flintstones-related properties since then and has voiced Ricochet Rabbit for Warner Bros.
Sean (Wizards, 1977)
Mark Hamill's first feature-length animated movie was "Wizards," in which he briefly appears as Sean. Sean is a sweet-natured fairy king and captain of the guard who does not last long in the post-apocalyptic film. Otherwise, "Wizards" sees an epic battle between twin brothers that threatens the fragile joy and peace in their world. The movie ended up coming out three months before "Star Wars: A New Hope" in 1977.
Due to the timing of the film's release, Hamill apparently never saw his animated big-screen debut when it was in theatres. But years later, he ended up watching it on home media. "I missed WIZARDS when it was released in 1977-I played Sean the Elf & appear 41 minutes in & [SPOILER ALERT] get killed 2 minutes later-Finally saw it yesterday & thoroughly enjoyed it, except the part in the end-credits where they spelled my name wrong," the actor wryly noted in a 2019 tweet. And in fact, he is listed in the credit roll with his last name misspelled as "Hamil."
The Joker (DC Animated Universe, 1992 onward)
If you remember Mark Hamill's voice from anything other than "Star Wars," it's likely from his long and prodigious streak of voicing the Joker for many "Batman"-related series. Intriguingly, he only ended up playing the character because Tim Curry — the original choice for the role — decided against taking it.
Famously, Hamill portrayed the wicked clown prince of crime in 15 episodes of "Batman: The Animated Series" and the spin-off film "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm." He also showed up on WB Kids' sister show "Superman: The Animated Series" for three episodes.
Jack Napier has since become one of Hamill's go-to voices, and Hamill returned to the role for "The New Batman Adventures" in 1997, "Justice League" in 2002, and multiple video games. His Joker has even popped up in the live-action version of the DC Universe, with Hamill providing a voiceover for WB's "Birds of Prey" series. He's also played several animated versions of The Trickster.
Hamill definitely takes delight in bringing to life The Joker's evil ways. "What I liked about doing the Joker was his villainy. I thought, you know, I could use this laugh almost as a vocabulary. Instead of having it be one continuous laugh, I could use it like color on a canvas. There could be sinister laughs, there could be joyful, gleeful, maniacal laughs, there could be malevolent and evil laughs. There are so many different colors that you can give him, so that kids will have more than one laugh to mimic on the playground. I do have to thank the people at Batman, because this work opened up an entire new career for me," he told Animation World Magazine in 1997.
Himself (The Simpsons, 1998)
Being asked to portray yourself on "The Simpsons" is something of a badge of honor in the acting community. But that wasn't necessarily so for Mark Hamill, who wanted a bigger challenge out of his appearance on the sitcom. He told Chris Hardwick in a 2017 interview for BAFTA Guru's Behind Closed Doors Series that he'd been begging his agent to get him on the show forever.
During the Season 10 episode "Mayored to the Mob," Hamill is watched over at a comic convention by Homer (Dan Castellaneta), who had recently been hired as a bodyguard to Mayor Quimby (also Castellaneta). Ultimately, Homer ends up carrying him to safety through a marauding crowd while Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You" plays in the background.
The job did throw Hamill an unexpected curveball: figuring out a natural voice acting style for "Mark Hamill." "Who am I?!" he laughed. "I don't really have a sense of who I am." He reported that he'd tested the voice out on his kids for accuracy. Hamill also admitted that this over-the-top parody of his post-"Star Wars" career did not initially enchant him, and when he complained about the script in front of his family, they informed him he was taking things too seriously. Yet when he arrived at the episode's table read, he made one more request of the show's producers — could he also play another character? They allowed him to voice the head of Homer's bodyguard academy, and all was well.
Appearing on "The Simpsons" seems to have relaxed Hamill's worries about playing himself. He's also voiced versions of himself for "Pepper Ann," "Night of the Living Doo," "Johnny Bravo," "The Cleveland Show," and "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?"
Firelord Ozai (Avatar: The Last Airbender, 2005-2008)
Believe it or not, Mark Hamill initially thought "Avatar: The Last Airbender" was destined to be canceled when he read a script for the series. Speaking with Wired for their Autocomplete series of interviews in 2023, he recalled, "I remember reading the first script thinking, 'this thing is going to get canceled in four episodes 'cause it's too smart.'"
Fortunately, Hamill's instinct was wrong, as the show's success has resulted in a spin-off, two different attempts at turning the series into a live-action saga, and a lasting pop culture legacy. He took on the role of Firelord Ozai, father to Prince Zuko (Dante Basco) and Princess Azula (Grey DeLisle), and one of the main antagonists standing in Aang's (Zach Tyler Eisen) way and bringing harmony and peace to the three nations. It's Ozai who attacks the other kingdoms in the hope of burning the entire planet down and subjugating it to his rule. Fortunately, Aang and his friends — and eventually Ozai's brother Iroh (Mako) and Zuko — come together to fight his wicked plans.
Hamill has stated that he's quite proud of the legacy of the "Avatar" series since it united families together with its intelligent plotting.
Mr. Selatica and Senator Stampingston (Metalocalypse, 2006 onward)
That's also Mark Hamill as the wicked Mr. Selatica, the head of the Tribunal, a supernatural entity determined to bring an end to the uber-powerful yet incredibly hapless metal band Dethklok in the Adult Swim series "Metalocalypse" before they manage to bring about unity and peace with their songs. Selatica is definitely not of this world, and his supernatural powers make him quite the incredible foe for both the band and their manager and eternal keeper, Offdensen (Brendon Small). Hamill also voices Senator Stampingston, also a member of the Tribunal and their chief public face.
The world Dethklok lives in is one of total chaos, and apparently, it was a sense of freewheeling mayhem that spread into the show's recording sessions. According to an interview with "Metalocalypse" creator, songwriter, and voice actor Small published by Fuse TV in 2012, he often intentionally invented unpronounceable names for Hamill to say during his recording sessions for the show, then when the actor refused to speak the lines, he'd goad Hamill into trying to say them, resulting in everyone in the room breaking up laughing. It's a fact that Hamill later confirmed on Twitter in 2020 during a conversation with Small, where he admitted, "I still have nightmares about those unpronounceable names."
Skips (Regular Show, 2010-2017)
The wise but forever no-nonsense yeti Skips — who serves as a groundskeeper of the park on Cartoon Network's "Regular Show" — is also a creation of Mark Hamill's. Skips' friends often turn to him for advice thanks to his many, many lived lifetimes — but he still finds himself flummoxed by certain social situations, such as bachelor parties. And yet there's no one else Rigby (William Salyers), Mordecai (J. G. Quintel), and the others would rather lean on in times of trouble.
When asked in 2017 by CinemaBlend what he would miss most about "Regular Show," Hamill said it was working with the rest of the series' talented voice crew. He then explained it was one of the last shows where he got to stand in a recording room with his fellow actors and bounce off of them. But waxing eloquent upon Skips brought up a mood of gratefulness for the actor. "I loved my character," Hamill said. "I mean, he was so unflappable. I love that his role in the show was to sort of be the guy that has to clean up after the mess after Mordecai and Rigby, with their usual moronic behavior, got themselves into some terrible place. For a character that unusual to be the 'grown up' on the show, in and of itself, was pretty hilarious."
Arnim Zola, various Marvel series (2016 onward)
While Mark Hamill is a very familiar face in the DC Animation scene, he's also cut a swathe for himself through the Marvel Animated Universe. His first role with the company was that of Hobgoblin in the 1994 animated "Spider-Man" series, but he has regularly voiced Hydra scientist and robot with a human conscience Arnim Zola since 2016. He debuted in the role in the video game "LEGO Marvel's Avengers." He's since voiced the character multiple times across a variety of Marvel-related projects.
During a 2018 interview with Marvel HQ, Hamill explained that playing Zola was all a matter of trying to find a fresh angle on the character's personality. "He has to have more than just an evil power. There has to be something interesting about him, his personal life, or what he wants," he explained. "Our villains, really, are not the kind of villains that are so obvious – 'Let's kill them!' They have their own motivations, their own differences, their own ambitions. They're more interesting than the heroes, I think."
Hamill also had the honor of participating in Stan Lee's final animated project, "Marvel Avengers: Black Panther's Quest." The twosome recorded their audio together and later expressed cheeky admiration for each other's talents.
Skeletor (Masters of the Universe: Revelation, 2021 onward)
Skeletor is one of a small number of voice acting roles established by other performers that Mark Hamill has subsequently picked up. He became the villain for "Masters of the Universe: Revelation" and its upcoming sequel series, "Masters of the Universe: Revolution" starting in 2021. But surprisingly, Hamill got the opportunity just as he'd begun to contemplate quitting voice acting altogether.
"[Hamill] had talked about wanting to step out of animation, but he was like, 'When you came at me with Skeletor, how could I say no?'" executive producer Kevin Smith told Entertainment Weekly in 2021. With the offer on the table, he happily dove back into the world of voice acting. He also pulled in some unusual influences, telling Smith during a Netflix Geeked interview that he pulled from a number of influences to create the voice — including that of classic Hollywood actress Tallulah Bankhead. "I wanted to find the highs and lows," Hamill said. "Obviously, he's Skeletor so I approached him in a very guttural way." But when Skeletor reaches his higher registers, there are notes of Ms. Bankhead in his tones. "I just made a note that would be the thing to remind me of, when he gloats, or when he gets that way, is to make it Tallu."
With over 400 distinct roles under his belt, Mark Hamill has definitely become a voiceover acting king — and hopefully, he has many more roles ahead of him.