Taking a page from the “Family Guy” resurrection guidebook, the canceled Fox animated comedy is returning with an order from Comedy Central for 26 new episodes.

Writers already are working on stories for the new batch of episodes from the sci-fi cartoon created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, which is slated to premiere on Comedy Central in mid-2010.

Just like with “Family Guy,” the performance of “Futurama’ ”s reruns on Comedy Central and on DVD prompted its resurrection.

It comes on the heels of the ratings success of four feature-length original “Futurama” specials on Comedy Central: “Bender's Big Score,” “The Beast with a Billion Backs,” “Bender's Game” and “Into the Wild Green Yonder.”

“When we brought back ‘Family Guy’ several years ago, everyone said that it was a once in a lifetime thing that canceled series stay canceled and cannot be revived,” said Gary Newman and Dana Walden, chairmen of 20th TV, which produces “Futurama” and “Family Guy.” “But ‘Futurama’ was another series that fans simply demanded we bring back.”

"Futurama," which aired on Fox for five seasons (1999 to 2003) centers on Philip Fry (Billy West), a 25-year-old pizza delivery boy who accidentally freezes himself on December 31, 1999 and wakes up 1,000 years later with a fresh start at life and a "diverse" new group of friends including Leela (Katey Sagal), a tough, but lovely one-eyed alien and Bender (John DiMaggio), a robot who possesses human characteristics and flaws.

All key voice cast members are expected to return, along with the series’ core writing team

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