After The Orville wrapped its season 3 last week, fans are now eager to know whether the series will be coming back for another installment.
Will there be a season 4 of The Orville?
While The Orville has yet to be renewed for a season 4, previous reports suggest that the future of the sci-fi dramedy is not looking good, especially after the cast’s contracts expired shortly after season 3 ended.
Series creator Seth MacFarlane admitted in a recent interview with TVLine that “there’s some trickiness” involved in regrouping and re-signing the cast if Hulu orders another season of the show. But he said that gathering the cast for another season is “the easy part” and the difficult one is figuring out how he can make a potential season 4 with all the other projects he’s currently working on, including his Ted prequel series for Peacock.
Despite his busy schedule, MacFarlane made it clear that he’s very much willing to create another season of The Orville if the show gets renewed for season 4. “I will say that I get as emotionally invested in the show as any of the fans,” said MacFarlane, who also plays Ed Mercer in the show. “So, I will find a way to do it if there is a season 4.”
When asked for the show’s season 4 renewal odds, MacFarlane said that there’s currently a “50-50” chance for the show to continue, noting that the future of the series will largely depend on the number of views it will get once its three seasons become available for streaming on Disney+, starting August 10th.
“My hope is that when the show drops on Disney+, the people who haven’t yet discovered [The Orville] will suddenly give it a chance,” MacFarlane said told TVLine. “That’s a potential game changer for us.”
MacFarlane added: “I think that creatively and audience-wise, when people sit down and give the show a chance, it upends their expectations. The biggest burden with the show is preconceptions. People think it’s one thing — there are people out there who think it’s a sitcom — and when they sit down to watch it they realize it’s something completely different. Once you get people’s eyeballs on it, the show does the work, it speaks for itself, and people tend to be hooked.”
The Orville season 4 release date
Since the show has yet to be renewed for a season 4, the potential batch of episodes doesn’t have a release date yet. But if the show gets renewed for a season 4, it’s likely that the waiting time for the new season will be shorter than the waiting time for the previous installment. As fans can remember, The Orville season 3, which has the subtitle New Horizons, premiered three years after the show’s season 2 finale due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Orville cast
Aside from MacFarlane, the latest season of The Orville also stars Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Doctor Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lieutenant Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lieutenant Commander Bortus), J Lee (Lieutenant Commander John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Jessica Szohr (Lieutenant Commander Talla Keyali), and Anne Winters (Ensign Charly Burke).
The Orville season 3 trailer
Yet to watch the latest season of The Orville? Watch the trailer for the show’s season 3 below:
Where to watch The Orville
The first three seasons of The Orville are currently streaming on Hulu and will also be available on Disney+ beginning August 10th. The first two seasons of the show can also be rented or purchased on Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, and Vudu.