It’s hard to believe we saw our last episode of The Orville three full years ago in April 2019. The wait is almost over, as the new season, titled The Orville: New Horizons, comes to Hulu beginning with its first episode June 2. Creator/star Seth MacFarlane is bringing the show back, along with behind-the-scenes contributions from the creators of sci-fi’s past like Brannon Braga, Doug Drexler, John Eaves, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, André Bormanis, and more. All the crew members are returning, Seth MacFarlane as Captain Ed Mercer, Adrianne Palicki as Commander Grayson, Penny Johnson Jerald as Doctor Claire Finn, Scott Grimes as Lieutenant Gordon Malloy, Peter Macon as Lieutenant Commander Bortus, Halston Sage as Lieutenant Alara Kitan, J. Lee as Lieutenant Commander John LaMarr, Mark Jackson as Isaac, and Jessica Szohr as Lt. Talla Keyali.
Here’s the final trailer for The Orville: New Horizons:
Its first two seasons became one of the top 5 science fiction series of the decade. Airing from 2017 to 2019, The Orville was a refreshing approach to sci-fi TV, a drama, comedy, and parody in just the right mix, plus unrivaled special effects, makeup, and costume design. Delayed by the pandemic, the third season of The Orville, now named The Orville: New Horizons, has a new target launch date for this coming June, moving from Fox to Hulu.
Creator/star Seth MacFarlane is bringing the crew back, along with behind-the-scenes contributions from the creators of sci-fi’s past like Brannon Braga, Doug Drexler, John Eaves, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, André Bormanis, and more. And thanks to MacFarlane, we now have a first look at the incredible special effects coming our way in the season three opening scene. Take a look at this 4-minute introduction:
First previewed here at borg back in March 2019, the first comic book story from the universe of television’s The Orville read in every way like a script that didn’t get produced–an episode that fits nicely into the timeline of the show but didn’t get filmed. As fans await the third season of the series, The Orville: New Horizons, coming to Hulu March 10, 2022, Dark Horse Comics is publishing a two-issue story this fall, The Orville: Artifacts. Written by executive producer David A. Goodman with artwork by David Cabeza and colors by Michael Atiyeh, The Orville: Artifacts keeps the series alive with its unique brand of humor and science fiction design style. Readers will find Ed, Kelly, Gordon, and the rest of the crew looking just like the actors that play them, as they ready themselves for The Orville’s next TV mission. Take a look inside the first issue below.
In-person cancellations have not kept every event this summer from canceling entirely. One of those is typically one of the summer’s biggest events, San Diego Comic-Con. Events for SDCC 2020 are proceeding ahead beginning Wednesday, but this time providing an opportunity for fans of all things pop culture a chance to sit through the kinds of panels you might see were you to attend in person in any regular year–without standing overnight in lines. You can even grab a lanyard off the rack, print your own badge (for you and your pets), cosplay with your family, and load the panels up on as big of a screen as you have. It’s 350 panels over five days, beginning Wednesday, July 22, and wrapping up Sunday, July 26. Check out all our suggestions for building your own fun convention week experience below.
First previewed here at borg back in March, the first comic book story from the universe of television’s The Orville reads in every way like a script that didn’t get produced–an episode that fits nicely into the timeline of the show but didn’t get filmed. Dark Horse Comics is publishing four issues this summer, two two-part stories written by executive producer David A. Goodman with artwork by David Cabeza and colors by Michael Atiyeh. Fans of the show who haven’t already picked them up will want to find the two issues already in comic shops and add the next two to their lists. The feel of the characters is spot-on, every side glance among Ed, Kelly, and Gordon looks like actors Seth MacFarlane, Adrianne Palicki, and Scott Grimes–unusual when sci-fi adaptations these days often don’t feature the drawn characters looking like the actors behind them.
Both stories for Dark Horse’s first foray into The Orville take place between the first two seasons. The first two-issue story, “New Beginnings,” presents some things not necessary for the TV show, but still interesting to see play out, including the rapid growth of Bortus and Klyden’s child Topa, and how that relates to Kelly encountering her new love interest, Cassius, after walking away from Ed at the end of Season One. As fans know, Cassius took on a bigger role in the second season of the show.
Meanwhile Ed and Gordon take off in a shuttle to attend a conference. Gordon is bored with mundane ship tasks, specifically investigating a Magnitar. And Ed can’t get Kelly out of his thoughts. As they learn, sometimes it’s better to be bored. They end up crash landing on a primitive planet, providing readers the adventure and exploration the show really excels at. All the while writer Goodman carefully picks up that banter between Ed and Gordon that provides the backbone of the humor for the show. All told, “New Beginnings” is a great start that will hopefully mean many more years of tie-in comics.
Take a look at a preview of the story, plus a sneak peek at the cover art to Issues #3 and #4, courtesy of Dark Horse Comics:
Fox’s television series The Orvillegets to explore a new world as it comes to Dark Horse Comics this summer. TV series executive producer/writer David A. Goodman(Futurama) will write the series, with artwork by David Cabeza and colorist Michael Atiyeh(Tomb Raider). The four-part series The Orville Season 1.5takes place between TV seasons one and two. Dark Horse Comics has revealed the first cover by Cabeza (below). Check out the details from the press release for the comic book series below.
As great as the first season of The Orville was, the three most-recent episodes of the series have met or surpassed the best science fiction episodes of any classic or modern science fiction television series. The Orville has been serious science fiction since its inception, and many critics and new viewers are at last taking notice. Beginning with the two-part episode “Identity,” viewers got to see the very best planetary environments and sequences of space battles in the history of sci-fi television. That’s right, the effects are that good–detailed, realistic, sweeping, and all-out fun. And forget about comparisons to television shows, the second part of the story arc displayed an exciting, epic space battle on par with the best galactic assaults and dogfights from the Star Warsuniverse, comparable to the final assault in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Sci-fi fans can’t ask for anything better than that. Thanks to executive producer and episode director Jon Cassar, The Orville reset the bar for compelling television sci-fi in this two-parter. From story and surprises to production design and execution, the often lighthearted series drops plenty of drama on viewers–gut punches in contrast to the laughs–proving The Orvilleis the real deal.
Taking the journey forward immediately after the effects of the battle with the Kaylons, in last night’s episode “Blood of Patriots,” Norm MacDonald’s marvelously realized gelatinous Kaylon battle hero Yaphit is celebrated by the crew, and we meet genre-favorite actor Mackenzie Astin giving a compelling performance as a gritty warrior-soldier, the kind you’re not likely to soon forget. The balance of the science fiction concept of reflecting the present with fictional stories of the future takes on new meaning with The Orville,as the writers deftly weave not just a single issue, but more than a half a dozen into each new episode. The result is much-watch television that surpasses decades of programming that preceded the show. From a character standpoint, it’s great fun to see Scott Grimes’ Lt. Gordon Malloy put forward as the ship’s hero-to-turn-to this season, a flawed man whose quirks and foibles reflect the kind of human you’d find today and in the future as part of any kind of actual fighting force.
Look for a more cinematic, episodic second season of The Orvillecoming your way, beginning tonight on Fox. All the crew members are back, Seth MacFarlane as Captain Ed Mercer, Adrianne Palicki as Commander Grayson, Penny Johnson Jerald as Doctor Claire Finn, Scott Grimes as Lieutenant Gordon Malloy, Peter Macon as Lieutenant Commander Bortus, Halston Sage as Lieutenant Alara Kitan, J. Lee as Lieutenant Commander John LaMarr, and Mark Jackson as Isaac.
These series was nominated for and won several awards for its first season, including Best Original Score for Television from the International Film Music Critics Association for the music by Bruce Broughton, John Debney, Joel McNeely, and Andrew Cottee, and a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Television Series.
You’re going to want to set your DVR to record the before and after shows tonight and throughout the season to avoid missing episodes getting bumped by football coverage.
Here is the latest preview for season two of The Orville:
Our San Diego Comic-Con coverage continues with Fox’s television series The Orville, which had both a panel and signing this year, along with featuring The Orville shuttle-themed PediCabs to cart visitors around the Gaslamp District and waterfront. We have the panel video below, as well as the preview shown at the panel for Season 2. Series star and executive producer Seth MacFarlane said fans can look forward to a Season 2 where “Every episode feels like a movie.”
Thanks to The Orville concept artist Lex Cassar, we (I and my wife, author and borg.com TV reviewer Elizabeth C. Bunce) had one of our best experiences at meeting the crew of a show. Seeing that the standby line for The Orville signing had no hope of making it to the Fox booth (events often can run long and subsequent events get behind at SDCC), Cassar came out to hand out some of the SDCC-exclusive Planetary Union pins to those at the back of the line–a very kind and classy gesture to those standing for an hour and half. Seeing me and Elizabeth in the Orville uniforms she created for the Con, he came back with a screen-used resin phaser for us to pose with. He went back to the booth and brought back Jason Roberts, unit production manager, who brought Bortus’s egg from the series, plus another hero resin light-up phaser and light-up scanners, and we were able to get more photos with the crew and these great props (gorgeously detailed, realistic, and heavy!).
The Orville production crew and borg.com staff with screen-used props at San Diego Comic-Con.
Despite not getting the lottery for the signing, we got up close and Seth MacFarlane (Capt. Ed Mercer) said we looked great, Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy) gave me a fist bump and had a quick chat with Elizabeth regarding the comfort of the uniform, J. Lee (Lt. Cmdr. John LaMarr) gave us a thumbs-up, and Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn) blew kisses from the balcony. Peter Macon (Lt. Cmdr. Bortus) chatted it up with everyone at the Fox booth.
Seth MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki signing at the Fox Booth at Comic-Con.
Emmy-winning producer and The Orville executive producer and director Jon Cassar (and 24 series executive producer and director of Continuum and The Dead Zone among other things) and producer and film editor Tom Costantino were especially gracious and gave us some of the Union logo pins and a Union hat after The Orville interview show.
C.J. Bunce and Elizabeth C. Bunce at San Diego Comic-Con (photo by SDCC official staff photographer).
All a great payoff for Elizabeth’s time in interpreting and deconstructing the costumes with only photographs in The World of the Orville book as a guide, sourcing fabrics, creating patterns and sewing the final uniforms! Comic-Con cosplay is in part about feedback to the studios. It’s also about showing your support for what you like–the driving theme of borg.com, too. We loved Season 1 and want to see more of it, and want these creators to know.
The real McCoy–an Orville screen-used resin phaser.
So check out the new trailer for Season 2, plus footage from The Orville panel, followed by the interview at the Fox booth at the show:
Last year Fox’s science fiction series The Orville provided what many fans of sci-fi TV had been missing for the past decade: a rejection of a dystopian model of the future and a return to an optimistic outlook, a future where Earthlings succeed in their exploration of the universe. Hands-on creator Seth MacFarlane and sci-fi royalty Brannon Braga, Jonathan Frakes, Robert Duncan McNeill, and even Jon Favreau and many other genre veterans created a new world full of real people, believable aliens, exquisitely designed ships and sets, and a 75-piece orchestra with the best music you can find on television. In the old days of Hollywood, studios tried to give fans what they wanted to see. Distancing itself from the new trend of laying on viewers quirky visions and forced constructs, the show instead unapologetically serves up what is frequently disparagingly called “fan service.” In other words, MacFarlane is giving sci-fi fans what they want. Fans of The Orville can marvel at the details of the production in a newly-released chronicle of the series, The World of The Orville. Readers will walk away with a better understanding of why the series works: It’s a show by fans for fans, created by some of the best artists, artisans, writers, and actors around.
It’s pretty rare that any television series releases a companion book, let alone one that is published before the second season airs. The World of The Orville covers the series from idea through concept art design, casting, art direction, make-up, costumes, prop design, and sound, up through the end of the season this past December. The book is not just a compilation of concept art or film images, it’s a good mix of both, complete with explanatory text from across the several production departments. Insight is provided from execs Brannon Braga, David A. Goodman, and Jason Clark, production designer Stephen J. Lineweaver, supervising producer Andre Bormanis, master visual effects veteran Rob Legato, effects supervisors Luke McDonald and Natasha Francis, concept designer Brandon Fayette, prop master Bryan Rodgers, display designer David Watkinson, construction coordinator Tony Lattanzio, makeup artist Howard Berger, music composer Bruce Broughton, and creator and actor Seth MacFarlane. The book’s author Jeff Bond incorporates a good mix of behind the scenes photographs and text to provide a solid overview of the story path of season one.
Significant coverage is given of the ship The Orville itself, inside and out, including early concept art and alternative styles considered in arriving at the giant yacht that would make it to the screen. Readers will get a look at costume designer Joseph A. Porro’s rejected designs, and various makeup designs attempted for key alien characters. Ship designs, alien worlds, costumes and weapons, as well as a look at each key character and production set can be found here.
The Orville is exactly what you have been waiting for. Not a flat sci-fi parody as the advance press characterized it, it’s more of a take on workplace situational shows like The Office and Office Space, recreating those daily grind obstacles that all of us face, only in a future, outerspace workplace. The result is a visually gorgeous show that takes itself seriously more than it tries to mock anything that came before it. Unlike Galaxy Quest, a fun and beloved parody it has been compared to, The Orville takes off into a new direction altogether. The Orville expands on elements from across all sci-fi, like space battle sequences and planet flyovers using Star Wars-inspired camera angles (including real model ships, not just CGI), completely new and unique aliens (the only thing close to these can be found in Doctor Who), and a fantastic, triumphant musical score from Bruce Broughton that is every bit what you’d expect from the composer of music for Silverado, Tombstone, Lost in Space, Gunsmoke, Dallas, Logan’s Run, and Buck Rogers.
Seth MacFarlane (Ted, Family Guy, Star Trek Enterprise) plays Ed Mercer, the newly appointed captain of the USS Orville. Ed is a once-ambitious officer in a future space force called the Union, who has taken some backward steps resulting from a marriage gone wrong to his new second-in-command, Commander Kelly Grayson, played by Adrianne Palicki (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Supernatural, John Wick). Although the characters’ past together is grim, the writers quickly address the closeness they once had in a bit of comedy banter over a quantum device that speeds up time and in a classic MacGyver moment involving a seed and a hot glue gun. The chemistry they will need for the rest of the series is present from the start. The rest of the cast is a mix of straight man and comic relief, and the writers don’t hesitate to drift them into pure drama when the story calls for it. Scott Grimes (Band of Brothers, Crimson Tide, Star Trek: The Next Generation) plays Helmsman Malloy, a pilot and old friend of Ed who flies by the seat of his pants. Peter Macon (The Shield, Supernatural) is Lt. Commander Bortus, a Moclan (with an incredible prosthetic head) who takes his job seriously and represents the best of the Union, along with Penny Johnson Jerald (Castle, Deep Space Nine) as the ship’s doctor. Mark Jackson is Isaac, an artificial lifeform from Kaylon (who is a character that seems to emerge straight from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), J. Lee (Family Guy) is navigator LaMarr, who seems to fear the change a new captain might bring, and Halston Sage (How to Rock, Crisis, Goosebumps) is security officer Kitan, a Xeleyan who is young and the physically strongest member of the team.
Enough cannot be said about the alien creations. Bortus and Kitan are perfectly realized. Isaac looks like a classic retro-inspired android. A swimming, floral, three-eyed chief botanist (created by Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor Robert Legato) is gorgeous and organic, and best of all, not bipedal, as is the gelatinous Yaphit (voiced by Norm McDonald). The villains of episode one, the Krill, are as perfect as sci-fi aliens get (they actually take off and land on planets–a strange but welcome novelty for a sci-fi series), and the seething and charismatic Krill captain (played by Joel Swetow) stumbles into the crew politics in one very funny scene. Even passing background aliens are incredibly detailed compared to aliens of many other sci-fi series.
