Seth MacFarlane‘s The Orville may be ready to take flight again.
MacFarlane, who is promoting Thursday’s launch for the second season of Peacock series Ted, tells The Hollywood Reporter that the writing team behind The Orville has penned 10 episodes for a potential fourth season. MacFarlane created and stars in the sci-fi series that aired its first two seasons on Fox before moving to Hulu for a third run that debuted in June 2022.
“I will be honest with you: Season four is written,” MacFarlane says of The Orville. “It’s just a question of when we have the time to produce it.”
The prolific producer confirmed that Hulu would be ready to move forward on the new season, but his own packed schedule has made it challenging to find time for him to shoot. “The 10 scripts are done,” MacFarlane continues. “I’m the problem. It’s [a matter of] when I can make that my year, with all the other stuff we have in the works. But we can hit the ground running when it happens.”
Set in the 25th century, The Orville premiered on Fox in 2017 and centers on the exploits for the crew of the USS Orville spacecraft, with MacFarlane’s Capt. Ed Mercer leading the way. The season three cast included Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, Jessica Szohr and Anne Winters.
President Alcuzan (Bruce Boxleitner), Lt. Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes), Speria Balask (Lisa Banes), Admiral Halsey (Victor Garber), Charly Burke (Anne Winters) and Capt. Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) in The Orville: New Horizons on Hulu.
Courtesy of Michael Desmond/Hulu
Back in 2022, MacFarlane told THR that he and his co-stars were hoping for Hulu to agree to make more episodes, despite hurdles that included the cast’s contracts having expired after season three. He also acknowledged that the show’s