Fans of The Orville have been on a rollercoaster ride since the last season rolled out, with many conflicting and disheartening reports about the chances of the Seth MacFarlane series returning for a fourth season. However, it seems that a very bright beacon of hope has just shone out across the universe of The Orville, with a suggestion that new episodes will be going into production next year.
While there has been no official word on The Orville’s own social media channels, or from creator MacFarlane, a recent appearance of series regular Scott Grimes at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention saw him revealing a very unexpected and exciting update about the show that acts as MacFarlane’s love letter to the sci-fi genre. According to @TrekProfiles on X/Twitter:
Scott Grimes just put out that #TheOrville will start shooting a new season after New Years sometime.
This is by far the most encouraging sign that The Orville has not taken flight for the last time under the watchful eye of Disney, who acquired the show after their merger with Fox and put out Season 3, retitled as The Orville: New Horizons, on Hulu in June 2022. Fans will no doubt be thrilled to hear that after many months of mixed signals, it seems that the series is heading back to Hulu for at least one more season.
Seth MacFarlane Has Championed The Orville Season 4 for Two Years
The Orville began life as a series that many people did not expect. Coming from the creative mind behind Family Guy, Ted and several other mature comedy IPs, many fans did not expect a mostly straight-up sci-fi show that was full of meaningful storylines, social commentary, and plenty of heart. However, once the initial shock wore off, fans really rallied behind the series, making it a huge success on the Fox Network.
Following the debut of Season 3 on Hulu, MacFarlane suggested that he would be more than happy to return to the franchise again, providing Disney were willing to give him the opportunity to continue the story. Previously he said of a possible renewal:
“I would love it. I know the entire cast is hoping for it. It’s a big question mark for a lot of reasons. It’s not an inexpensive show to produce. It requires an ambitious budget. But the flip side of that is, it’s no more ambitious than half the other streaming shows on television. It really is gonna depend on audience response, on whether the show gets discovered. I still think there are a lot of people who just don’t know that we’re out there and don’t really quite know what we are. And when people sit down and watch the show, they’re almost always surprised, and it almost always upends their expectations. Probably because it’s me (laughs), probably because most of what I’ve done in the past has been very different, but it’s dependent on audience response. At the end of the day, it’s a business. It’s dependent on whether we’re worth something to Disney and to the platform that we’re on.”
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The Orville
’s three seasons are available to stream via Hulu or Disney+ depending on your territory.