Star Trek stories boldly go where no one else has gone before. Now, as it turns out, The Orville is going to take a page out of Trek’s book by shifting gears and changing homes, moving from the Fox Broadcasting Network to Hulu in time for its third season.
The news broke at The Orville’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where creator and star Seth MacFarlane confirmed the move. That was quickly followed up by a press release that included more explanation from MacFarlane, where he stated:
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. 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.
Believe it or not, that sounds like an incredibly amicable split for all involved. The Orville has grown and evolved into a show that is much more than a weekly crank out, and Seth MacFarlane shouldn’t be forced to compromise his vision to catch up with a television’s production and release schedule.
Hulu, on the other hand, has the patience to drop full seasons of shows like The Handmaid’s Tale, The Path, Casual and The Orville, delivering the level of quality that a science-fiction show on the pedestal of The Orville can reach.
Craig Erwich, SVP of Content Development at Hulu, celebrated the acquisition of The Orville as a win for the show, the streaming service, and MacFarlane’s creative team.
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. 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 third season of The Orville will not arrive until late 2020, so stay tuned for details about the production’s progress and its transition from Fox to Hulu as it happens.
