Credit: The Orville/Fox
The Orville was the first live-action series from Seth Macfarlane, compared to the other series the creator has had on Fox, such as Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad. While The Orville was the only Seth Macfarlane live-action venture on television when it premiered, it’s not the only live-action venture overall, as Seth Macfarlane has also had the movies Ted, Ted 2, and A Million Ways to Die in the West. However, Seth Macfarlane also has an upcoming television show with Hulu as a continuation of Ted. Below, we’ve detailed The Orville on Fox, then Hulu, but more specifically, The Orville after its most recent season, Season 3, and what the future of The Orville beyond Season 3 could entail or when it could come.
Credit: The Orville/Fox
The Orville
The Orville, as stated above, was created by Seth Macfarlane and was very heavily inspired by Star Trek and its planetary exploration concepts presented in both shows. Like other Seth Macfarlane shows, The Orville premiered on Fox, where its first two seasons premiered until the show left the Fox schedule for new episodes in Season 3 and premiered on Hulu. The series already premiered the next day on Hulu, as Disney, the owner of Hulu, has owned Fox for quite some time. The Orville plot varied per season, such as with season 3 being titled The Orville: New Horizons. The Orville, the science-fiction comedy-drama, premiered on Fox in September of 2017 with the main cast of Seth Macfarlane, Scott Grimes, Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson-Jerald, Peter Macon, Halston Sage, J. Lee, Mark Jackson, Jessica Szohr, and Anne Winters. The Orville featured different characters in different episodes and seasons, but the main cast for the series has been listed above. Actors such as Charlize Theron, likely due to her friendship with Seth Macfarlane, have also appeared in minimal roles earlier in the show’s history, likely to attract attention to the new series. While The Orville may be a futuristic space traveling adventure series, the show may be appreciated more in the future, as shows like it tend to build audiences over time.
Credit: The Orville/Fox
The Orville So Far
As stated above, The Orville had its first two seasons on Fox, while season 3 of The Orville lived exclusively on Hulu, where each episode premiered. While The Orville season 3 premiered on Hulu, and the other two seasons were on Fox, each season of The Orville had its genre theme or premise that separated them from each other. However, season 3 of The Orville was more of an open farewell that could be picked up again at any point in case the show would continue, but the difference in time between the second season and The Orville: New Horizons may have deterred fans over the years. Season 1, whose pilot was directed by Jon Favreau, focused on varying plots, as each episode of The Orville followed an episodic format to allow a different plot as often as possible. However, a large number of actors pop into episodes of The Orville here and there across the entire series that help keep a memorable cast and plot for fans to pinpoint and help separate from other episodes. Actors that have appeared in The Orville for stints outside of the earlier mentioned Charlize Theron included Rob Lowe, Jason Alexander, Liam Neeson, and others.
Credit: The Orville/Fox
The Orville Beyond Season 3
Beyond The Orville season 3, which will hopefully earn a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes that season 2 and season 3 of The Orville had received, may see a release date in the next three years or may announce it’s officially over and won’t return, but Seth Macfarlane has remained hopeful over a future season 4 of The Orville. Ultimately, fans expected the series to possibly be renewed over a recent Disney event, D23, in which Disney announced a slew of other projects headed to Disney+ and other platforms, but as that hasn’t happened, even a change.org petition has circulated to get a fourth season announced. While The Orville has been widely considered a sitcom in space, Seth has stated that the series has been much more than that, likely due to the creator’s deep love for not only Star Trek, the series that inspired The Orville, but also his love for entertainment and science. Seth Macfarlane’s love of science has always been noted in his previous work but could primarily be seen in his revival series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which was hosted by Niel deGrasse Tyson, while the original, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was hosted and created by Carl Sagan. Overall, Seth Macfarlane’s love of science, comedy, television, writing, and general interest in combining those elements has been notable in The Orville much more than it can be shown in the other, more well-known works of the comedic genius.
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