Danielle Solzman
Seth MacFarlane announced during San Diego Comic Con 2019 that The Orville will be moving exclusively to Hulu, starting with season 3.
“The Orville has been a labor of love for me, and there are two companies which have supported that vision in a big way: 20th Century Fox Television, where I’ve had a deal since the start of my career, and FOX Broadcasting Company, now FOX Entertainment, which has been my broadcast home for over 20 years,” Seth MacFarlane said in a statement. “My friends at the network understood what I was trying to do with this series, and they’ve done a spectacular job of marketing, launching and programming it for these past two seasons. But as the show has evolved and become more ambitious production-wise, I determined that I would not be able to deliver episodes until 2020, which would be challenging for the network. So we began to discuss how best to support the third season in a way that worked for the show. It’s exactly this kind of willingness to accommodate a show’s creative needs that’s made me want to stick around for so long. I am hugely indebted to Charlie Collier and FOX Entertainment for their generosity and look forward to developing future projects there. And to my new friends at Hulu, I look forward to our new partnership exploring the galaxy together.”
“Fox Entertainment has been a fantastic home for The Orville and their willingness to support the show’s move to Hulu is incredibly appreciated; they really are great partners to us on so many shows and this is one more example,” said Carolyn Cassidy, President of Creative Affairs, 20th Century Fox Television. “We’re thrilled as a studio to find this creative solution which is so meaningful to Seth and keeps the show on track to continue entertaining its millions of fans.”
“We know our viewers are huge fans of The Orville, along with many of Seth MacFarlane’s groundbreaking hit shows, and we can’t wait to bring Season 3 to them exclusively on the platform,” said Craig Erwich, SVP Content Development, Hulu. “Hulu is a home for the world’s most sought-after creative talent, and we’re incredibly excited to welcome Seth and the entire cast and creative team of The Orville to our Hulu Originals slate.”
The Orville is a live-action, one-hour space adventure series set 400 years in the future that follows The U.S.S. Orville, a mid-level exploratory spaceship. Its crew, both human and alien, face the wonders and dangers of outer space, while also dealing with the problems of everyday life.
While there is no doubt that Star Trek serves as a major influence on the series, The Orville has more or less become its own thing. With the way that the second season ended, I honestly can’t wait to see how things develop in the third season. It’s disappointing to know that we’ll have to wait until late 2020 but it’s worth it for this series alone.
The Orville is produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Fuzzy Door Productions. The series was created and written by Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane, Brannon Braga, David A. Goodman, Jason Clark and Jon Cassar serve as executive producer on the series. Jon Favreau directed the series premiere episode.
