The Orville Season 4 Gets Major Script Update As Seth MacFarlane Confesses One Hurdle After Four-Year Hiatus

The sci-fi dramedy series premiered in 2017 and has aired three seasons to date, with the most recent installment released in 2022. Ever since then, speculation has risen over whether The Orville will ever return.

Now MacFarlane is admitting (via THR) that 10 episodes have been written for The Orville season 4. Unfortunately, the main hurdle is making sure everyone involved in the project has “the time to produce it.”

“I will be honest with you: Season 4 is written. It’s just a question of when we have the time to produce it.”

In particular, MacFarlane blames himself for the delay, saying, “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.” Once he can make himself available, though, he’ll be able to “hit the ground running.”

“The 10 scripts are done. 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.”

The Orville, which has a 77% critic score and 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, is an expensive show with a lot of visual effects and CGI. Hulu would need to provide a large enough budget for MacFarlane to bring his vision to the screen.

Getting the cast back together after all these years is another challenge since their contracts have all expired, so they would need to renegotiate their deals.

Adrianne Palicki, who plays Kelly Grayson, one of the main characters on the show, has indicated that she might not come back if The Orville season 4 is greenlit, which would change the on-screen dynamics and potentially require rewrites if MacFarlane has included her in those 10 scripts.

MacFarlane is not only the star of The Orville; he’s also the creator, showrunner and an executive producer.

He is a devoted fan of Star Trek, and The Orville is very much influenced by the long-running sci-fi franchise since the show itself centers around the adventures of a crew aboard a spaceship as they explore other planets and deal with the dangers that come with these difficult missions.

In fact, several Star Trek actors have appeared on The Orville, including Robert Picardo, Marina Sirtis, Tim Russ and John Billingsley.

MacFarlane himself was in two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, and Orville co-star Penny Johnson Jerald had a recurring role in the later seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Behind the scenes, some of the filmmakers played major roles in multiple Star Trek shows, like Enteprise co-creator Brannon Braga and Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Jonathan Frakes, who directed some episodes of The Orville.

Along with MacFarlane, Palicki and Jerald, the series also stars Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, J. Lee, Mark Jackson, Jessica Szohr, Anne Winters and the late Norm Macdonald.

The Orville aired its first two seasons on Fox but moved to Hulu for season 3.

The streaming service has yet to officially renew The Orville, but based on MacFarlane’s comments, it sounds like an announcement will happen eventually; it’s just a matter of ensuring he has time to fit the production into his busy schedule, especially after he just executive-produced The ‘Burbs and created a new season of Ted, which premieres March 5 on Peacock.