“The Orville” star and creator Seth MacFarlane says that the possibility of a fourth season renewal of the show will likely depend on the streaming numbers that come from the launch of the first three seasons on Disney+ this coming week.
The series famously started out on FOX as a poorly received comedic spin on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Partway through its first season though, it found its jogging as a more old-school Trek-esque show of episodic morality tales – albeit with a bit of extra humor and up-to-date visual effects.
Reviews and fan appreciation rose, and recently the series wrapped its third season (subtitled ‘New Horizons’) on its new home at Hulu. With Disney+ having recently expanded to include more adult-oriented content, “The Orville” will now stream on Disney+ in its entirety starting August 10th.
Speaking with Screen Rant recently about the show’s future, MacFarlane says the show’s chances of being renewed are about 50-50 right now. He adds that he has nothing but praise for all the support he’s received at Hulu for the show’s recent third season release and the hope is the Disney+ release will allow the series one last push to a whole new audience only partly aware of the series:
“I have sensed a real groundswell of support from within the Hulu branch and the Disney branch. Of course, it’s a business, so the show has to be something that justifies its own existence and, at the end of the day, that’s really going to be what determines a season 4.
But the folks at Hulu and Disney have sure as hell given us the best possible chance of that happening, so it’s really all up to the audience now. I am excited for the Disney+ launch, because that’s an entirely new audience that I think is maybe dimly aware of the show but maybe doesn’t really know exactly what it is.
I think that’s been the conundrum of The Orville for a while is that people kind of put it in a box based on the initial perceptions of the show since 2017 and 99% of the time when people sit down to watch it, their expectations are completely upended, and the show speaks for itself in that way, I’m confident that it can do that. The real challenge is just going to be getting eyeballs on it so that people have the chance to discover that for themselves.”
One complication is the cast’s commitments to other projects, including MacFarlane himself in the title role in Peacock’s upcoming “Ted” prequel series. Even if a renewal order is handed out, there could again be a long gap between seasons.