While the show hasn’t aired in two years, the “Star Trek: The Next Generation”-inspired series “The Orville” was never officially canceled — and now one of the show’s leads has said they’re heading into production next year.
Scott Grimes shared at this weekend’s Star Trek Las Vegas convention that he believes that a fourth season of the show will start up in January or February 2025, according to multiple people who were in attendance.
No official announcement has been made by the show’s previous home of Hulu, or from the broader Disney company. However, “Orville” podcast “Planetary Union Network” confirmed the news on Reddit, citing members of the production team.
“Planetary Union Network,” which began as a fan podcast before becoming the show’s official podcast, has had a history of members of the production breaking news through the program. Those behind the podcast also cautioned that Season 2 of Seth MacFarlane’s “Ted” series for Peacock would be filming first and that “Orville” sets needed to be rebuilt following the long hiatus.
Representatives for MacFarlane and Hulu did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
The creator and “Family Guy” impresario previously teased earlier this year that the show could return in an interview with TheWrap.
“All I can tell you is that there is no official death certificate for ‘The Orville,’” MacFarlane said at the time. “It is still with us. I can’t go any further than that at the moment. There are too many factors.”
“There will be more” of the series he also said on “The Mike Henry Show,” describing “The Orville” as “a passion project.”
Fans have been uneasy about whether the beloved series will make a comeback, due to the combination of high production costs, unspectacular ratings and the lack of official updates. Actress Adrianne Palicki said last year that she didn’t know whether the show would return, telling the “Inside of You” podcast that she was “no longer doing that” and that “it’s a really difficult show to shoot,” producing just 33 episodes over six years.
“It became an actual, real issue,” Palicki told “Inside of You” host and actor Michael Rosenbaum, “because there would be so much time in between seasons because Seth wanted to write everything himself.”
MacFarlane, notably a huge “Star Trek” fan, was seen by many as using the series to live out his own dreams of being part of his own version of the legendary franchise. He played the ship’s captain throughout its run thus far. MacFarlane hasn’t gotten any less busy, with producer and story credits on the upcoming remake of “The Naked Gun,” his “Ted” prequel series on Peacock, the ongoing “Family Guy” and “American Dad” animated shows and more.
The long time between seasons had also been difficult for the rest of the cast, according to Palicki, as they weren’t being paid but were being held by the studio. She noted that they looked to get some sort of holding fee and added that actor J. Lee had to get by on “saltines and Gatorade” at one point. “It was horrible.”
Grimes told TheWrap earlier this year that conversations about the next season had begun about Season 4 before the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes happened.
“It’s not dead in any sort of way whatsoever. It’s just about when, where and how and building the stuff again,” Grimes said. “And I know Seth wants to do it and that usually holds a lot of power.”
Grimes also told TVLine earlier this year that he had thought another season was about to be announced before the strikes. However, he added, “I think it’s a better than good possibility that we get to do this again.”
The series’ last season streamed on Hulu in summer 2022, and is also available on Disney+.
