It's been over half a year since The Orville Season 3 ended, and the fate of Seth MacFarlane's beloved sci-fi series still hangs in the balance between renewal and cancellation, and for so long, no one involved had a clear answer on where things stand. Fortunately, CinemaBlend received some fresh comments from actor Chad L. Coleman, which might be the best positive news we've heard about Season 4 happening so far.
CinemaBlend's Adam Holmes spoke to Chad L. Coleman about his stint as Bruno Mannheim on Superman & Lois, and also asked if he's heard anything about The Orville: New Horizons. Coleman, who plays Bortus' husband Klyden on the Hulu and Disney+ series, laid out the renewal situation and sounded optimistic about the odds of it happening:
We’re all in the loop and out of the loop. We think it’s gonna happen, but it’s still up in the air. There’s so much going on with all of these studios that it’s just like, ‘Well, we gotta settle this thing first, then we can really decide on that thing.’ A bunch of that is going on. We hope so. Seth has an amazing relationship with Dana [Walden] and with Disney, who’s running it now. And they said they’ve had promising meetings, so we’ll see.
Shoutout to Chad L. Coleman for giving fans the clearest explanation of what's going on with The Orville's renewal! It sounds like there's more happening behind the scenes than just settling on whether the series is cancelled or renewed, and some of it may have nothing to do with the series specifically. Coleman mentioned that he and others are optimistic it'll happen and pointed to Seth MacFarlane's great relationship with Dana Walden, who is the acting co-chairman of Disney Entertainment.
There hadn't been any noteworthy news to report in regard to The Orville's Season 4 renewal in some time. Rumors that the series would end with Season 3 popped up before the season even aired. The cast later refuted the rumors the show had no shot at renewal but added that fan interest and viewership would play a key factor in the show's renewal. Basically, if you're an Orville fan, now would be a great time to rewatch the series' best episodes with that Disney+ subscription.
Series creator and star Seth MacFarlane has been working on other projects in the meantime but has indicated many times in various ways that his passion for continuing The Orville remains strong. In fact, he even recently showed off one of the Planetary Union's finest ships to the U.S. Navy with a post on Twitter that should give fans a chuckle:
Your ships are cool. We also have ships. Here is one of our ships. #TheOrville https://t.co/WtrJvBXbIe pic.twitter.com/FAQDFYbZ4jMarch 15, 2023
The Orville: New Horizons played it safe with its final two episodes in Season 3, with a game plan in place for whether it was canceled or renewed. The penultimate episode, "Domino," was jam-packed with new developments and clear setups for where Season 4 will go, assuming the series is renewed. The Season 3 finale, ironically titled "Future Unknown," served as more of a cap on the adventures the show has had so far and could serve as a proper series finale.
With that said, Chad L. Coleman's recent comments have me more optimistic than ever that The Orville will live on to see Season 4. I really want to see how the new alliance between the Planetary Union and Kaylons will fare against the Moclan and Krill allies they lost, so here's hoping more positive Season 4 news isn't far off.
If you're looking to watch The Orville: New Horizons right now, Disney+ and Hulu are the places to do it. Hopefully, we'll have some updates on the series before too long, and maybe even news that we won't have to worry about the show ending for a while.
