******STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!******
Rumor Control
This was taken at Comic Con Revolution in Ontario, California in May of 2023, as I was unable to attend STLV 2024 this year.
At the recent Creation Entertainment STLV convention (the convention also known as “Star Trek Las Vegas”), actor Scott Grimes, who played Gordon Malloy in “The Orville” said that the 2017-2022 Fox/Hulu/Disney+ series had indeed been picked up for a 4th season and was currently in preproduction. However, he was a bit vague on specific dates, suggesting that a release date was far from imminent. Below is a link to the article from Space.com, since I had to miss STLV this year:
From Space.com: Scott Grimes confirms season four of “The Orville” at STLV2024.
Grimes is a close friend of “The Orville”’s lead actor, creator, producer, writer and occasional director Seth McFarlane, who plays Captain Ed Mercer, having worked together on MacFarlane’s other shows, and perhaps they’ve talked in private about a possible fourth season, but there is nothing more concrete than this rumor anywhere on the internet, other than the YouTube channel “Talking The Orville,” which seemed to be waiting on this leak before publishing its own ‘insider’ information.
Note: No offense to the good folks at “Talking The Orville” YouTube channel, but I take just about everything with a grain of salt these days.
Until I hear some combination of the words “The Orville has been officially renewed for a fourth season” coming from the mouths of Seth MacFarlane and/or Hulu/Disney+ production executives with the power to green-light, I’m taking it as a rumor. Not that I doubt the credibility of Scott Grimes, whom I had the pleasure of meeting a year or so ago, along with actor J. Lee (“Chief Engineer John LaMarr”), but without official confirmation from a studio or the series’ creator, I am treating this is a rumor. Perhaps Grimes heard this from a producer at the studio or from his friend MacFarlane, and leaked it in good faith. However, without official confirmation from MacFarlane, Hulu or Disney+, it’s only a possibility, as far as I’m concerned.
Imagine if we only had George Takei or Walter Koenig’s word to confirm the production of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (TMP) back in the mid-1970s, and that’s about the size of it. Yes, TMP did eventually happen, and it was great (to me, at least), but if a costar’s word were all we had regarding the project, it’d be natural to take it with some skepticism; especially given the aborted attempts at new Star Trek which occurred in the 1970s after the original series (TOS) was cancelled by NBC in 1969 (“Star Trek: Phase II,” “Planet of the Titans,” etc).
Of course, the mid-1970s also yielded “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” aka TAS (1973-4), so there was something new for us Star Trek fans in those wilderness years following TOS’ cancellation. And five years after TAS’ cancellation came the December 1979 release of TMP. I’m not suggesting “The Orville” has to follow this same outdated model, since TV/streaming production has changed dramatically since ye olden days of my youth, but unfortunately, the creative limbo known as “development hell” is still very much alive and kicking, I’m afraid.
It’s been eight years since the last movie of the Kelvinverse movie, and we still get rumors of a new film every other year or so.
Note: Development Hell seems to be the permanent drydock of new Kelvinverse Star Trek movies. Announcements of new Bad Robot Star Trek movies now seem to be made every other year or so, before inevitably fizzing out. I’m so cynical now that I’ll only believe a new theatrical Star Trek movie is happening sometime after I’ve seen it.
These days, the strategy for popular sci-fi franchises under the Disney+ umbrella seems to be bombardment (see: Disney-owned Marvel and Lucasfilm properties), with multiple projects coming out all at once. This is a model that Paramount+ uses on Star Trek as well, with several new projects currently in the pipeline, such as the recent “Star Trek: Discovery” spinoffs “Starfleet Academy” (a new series) and “Star Trek: Section 31” (a standalone streaming movie) as well as the recently announced live-action Star Trek comedy series, cocreated by and starring Tawny Newsom (“Star Trek: Lower Decks”). Think I’ll pass on that last one, thanks…
Animated Star Trek has also been moving along, with two (very) contrasting examples; Paramount+’s “Lower Decks” (LD), which is due to premiere its final 5th season in October, and the relocated-to-Netflix series “Prodigy” (PRO), which recently unveiled a terrific second season. While I personally can’t stand LD (being honest here), the underdog animated series PRO has yielded some of the most consistently well-written Star Trek I’ve seen in a long while. If “The Orville” were coming back for a 4th season, animation would certainly be a way to go, given Seth MacFarlane’s knack for more adult-themed animated shows (“Family Guy,” “American Dad,” etc). PRO would certainly be a good example to follow in terms of style and overall quality.
I do remember hearing MacFarlane speak (via Skype) during a San Diego Comic Con 2023 panel on “The Orville,” and he seemed to take a lot of pride in the show’s live-action status, adding that a live-action sci-fi series similar to Star Trek had been a goal of his since childhood. Nevertheless, an animated fourth season of “The Orville” would certainly be one way to go, both in production costs and cast availability, since Adrianne Palicki (“Commander Kelly Grayson”) recently announced she had no interest in returning to the show if it returned (another actor could assume the role of Commander Grayson, if needed).
She did talk about working on “The Orville,” but did not mention any possible return of the series. She also has other projects lined up, including a new graphic novel series she’s producing with her brother called “No Angel.”
Note: Returning to the show would re-team Palicki with her now ex-husband, Scott Grimes, and while she’s never confirmed if that was a factor in her lack of interest, it’d certainly be understandable. I mean, who would want to show up to work every day with their ex, right?
The State of the Planetary Union
Capt. Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) officiates at the wedding of Claire (Penny Johnson Jerald) and Issac (Mark Jackson), after a hard-won peace accord with the Kaylons.
That final season of “The Orville” saw the Planetary Union of the 25th century barely surviving a devastating war with Isaac’s cybernetic Kaylon race, with an accord finally reached (“Domino”). The last new episode (aka “The Orville: New Horizons,” as it was called in its third season) streamed in August of 2022, with the aptly titled “Future Unknown,” and it ended with an atypically calamity-free episode showcasing the wedding of the ship’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Claire Finn (Penny Johnson Jerald) and the ship’s android Science Officer, Isaac (Mark Jackson).
However, the former Planetary Union allies (and chief weapons manufacturers) known as the Moclans—whose members include the Orville’s second officer, Bortus (Peter Macon)—ended their shaky alliance with the Planetary Union and joined the galactic jihadists known as the Krill. Bortus, however, has defected; choosing to remain with his shipmates, along with his mate Klyden (Chad Coleman) and their newly gender-affirmed daughter, Topa (Imani Pollum). So, if the series were to return, there is still plenty of new material for it to explore, since the series’ universe is more or less upended now; with former enemies as new allies, and with former allies as new enemies.
In one of the series’ most heartbreaking episodes, an abandoned Gordon (Scott Grimes) chooses to live out his life in the 21st century with his wife, Laura (Minka Kelly); a woman he fell in love with from her recovered cellphone found and restored by archeologists in the 25th century (“Twice in a Lifetime”).
Given that the bulk of the Kaylon fleet peaceably attended Isaac’s wedding, one assumes they won’t be a problem going forward. However, the combined forces of the warlike Moclans and Krill (who are a natural fit, given their draconian belief systems and long list of intolerances) still present a serious threat to the Planetary Union’s stability. While the final episode made for a nice-enough series finale, the state of the series’ 25th century still leaves plenty of new material to play with, if “The Orville” returns.
Casting/Production Challenges
If “The Orville” were to return for a 4th (live-action) season, there will need to be some casting changes. If actress Adrienne Palicki does not return, as she’s stated, the Orville will need a new first officer; I assume that would be Bortus, who was next in line for the job, anyway. There will also be the need for a new navigator, since Ensign Charly Burke (Anne Winters) died in the line of duty near the end of the series (“Domino”).
Ensign Charly Burke (Anne Winters) joined the cast in season 3, and despite Burke locking horns with both Isaac and Captain Mercer, she left a formidable wake when she sacrificed herself in the name of peace (“Domino”).
There’s also the presumptively expensive issue of recreating the ship’s handsome sets from scratch. Perhaps a 4th season of “The Orville” could use on-set virtual production (OSVP) technology (walls of LED panels) around the actors to simulate the ship’s interiors, or any other environments needed. This new technology came into prominence with Disney+’s “The Mandalorian,” which used it to great effect, giving that series tremendous production value.
On-set virtual production extends the scope of modern streaming series by adding both realistic backgrounds and natural lighting effects in-camera during shooting, eliminating the need for complex green screen use or other digital matting.
Paramount+ has its own OSVP tech facilities as well, and the technology was extensively used to simulate Starfleet’s new deep space headquarters as well as other new environments. While the technology certainly succeeds in giving more natural lighting than chroma-key or other green-screen technologies, it comes with its own headaches as well. I’ve heard firsthand at various conventions that some actors find the use of virtual production walls a bit dizzying, since the backgrounds move along with the actors during filming.
If “The Orville” were returning for more than a single season, it’d probably be easier to simply re-build the ship’s interiors; perhaps even using an in-universe explanation of a ‘ship’s refit’ to explain away any cosmetic or logistical changes (see: ST: TMP).
Wish List
Personally, I’d like to see a time-jump for the series, à la “Battlestar Galactica” season 3, which jumped ahead a full year between the settlement of “New Caprica” and the Colonials’ forced relocation back into space. It’d be interesting to see the 25th century of “The Orville” universe jumping ahead, say, a decade; with some old friendships now strained or even broken, and perhaps some new faces added to the characters’ inner circle, which might also fill those new navigator and first officer slots.
In just three years, “The Orville” went from a silly, disposable Star Trek-parody to a fully mature contender for best starship-based series of any sci-fi franchise. I was initially dismissive of “The Orville” myself, until the third episode “About a Girl.”
Perhaps the series could open with the Orville itself now mothballed, and its crew disbanded to new posts, or even retired. I could easily see Gordon taking advantage of early retirement from the fleet, as we saw with his erased 21st century timeline from the heartbreaking episode, “Twice in a Lifetime.” Or the series could simply resume, and we could just pick up right where we left off; which would still be satisfying, of course, but would lack that extra bit of drama and mystery that would come with a leap into the series’ future. Such a leap would also allow fans to fill in some of the missing pieces for themselves; at least until the characters do so in later episodes (or not…?).
Whatever happens—if anything—I would certainly welcome more of “The Orville,” if the powers-that-be can pull it together and make it so.
Where to Watch
The first 2 seasons of “The Orville” and season 3 of “The Orville: New Horizons” are available to stream on Disney+, and remain on Hulu as well. You can also purchase physical media copies of seasons 1 and 2 on DVD (no Blu-Ray release) from Amazon.com; no word on whether season 3 will get a physical media release, but given Disney+’s lack of DVD/BluRay streaming series releases, I doubt it. A shame; this is a series that just about begs for a future physical media box set.
