The Orville is a science-fiction comedy drama series created by Seth MacFarlane. There have been two seasons of The Orville so far. The first season premiered in September 2017. It had twelve episodes in total. The second season premiered in December 2018. The second season of The Orville had fourteen episodes. Both seasons aired on Fox. Season 1 of The Orville received generally negative critic reviews, but the second season received positive reviews. The Orville was Fox’s highest viewed Thursday night show, during its first season.
The Orville is a joint production by Fuzzy Door Porductions and 20th Television. The series is heavily inspired by cult classic science fiction television series Star Trek and its successor Star Trek: Next Generation. The premise of The Orville is this-
“The Orville is set on the titular USS Orville (ECV-197), a mid-level exploratory space vessel in the Planetary Union, a 25th-century interstellar alliance of Earth and many other planets.”
Cast of The Orville Season 3
Seth MacFarlane, creator of The Orville, will be returning as Captain Ed Mercer. Adrianna Palicki will also be back as Commander Kelly Grayson. Penny Johnson Jerald as Doctor Claire Finn, Scott Grimes as Lieutenant Gordon Malloy, Peter Macon as Lieutenant Commander Bortus, J Lee as Lieutenant Commander John LaMarr, Mark Jackson as Isaac, Jessica Szohr as Lieutenant Talla Keyali, and Chad L Coleman as Klyden; are all expected to be back for season 3.
Halston Sage, who played the character of Lieutenant Alara Kitan, will not be back as a regular cast member on season 3. However, executive producer David Goodman said that they would love to have her back in some way or the other.
“I don’t think she is coming back as a regular. But, we love that character… so if there is an opportunity to bring her back story-wise, I think she would be open to it and we would love to have her back.”
A new addition to the cast of season 3 of The Orville is Anne Winters (13 Reasons Why). She will portray the character of Charly Burke.
The Orville Season 3 – Recent Updates
The Orville was renewed for season 3 in July 2019. Season 3 will have thirteen episodes, instead of the fourteen in the second season. However, the episodes will be longer in season 3. The third season will not be returning on Fox though. Fox wanted episodes by 2020, but creator Seth MacFarlane said that he would not be able to deliver the episodes by that time; and hence the jump to streaming service Hulu took place.
Season 3 of The Orville was supposed to premiere in the latter half of 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been delayed. Seth MacFarlane has said that half of the episodes have been shot and that they have figured out a way to work in the current situation. The Orville season 3 can be expected to premiere in 2021.