Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: paramount, peacock, seth macfarlane, star trek, Terry Matalas, The Orville

Star Trek: It's Time to Make Seth MacFarlane An Offer, Paramount

With Terry Matalas set for Marvel Television's Vision series, maybe Paramount should consider making The Orville's Seth MacFarlane an offer.

Published Sun, 26 May 2024 14:38:08 -0500

by Tom Chang

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With Terry Matalas taking his starship over to Disney to work on Marvel's untitled Vision series for Disney+, Paramount has lost a considerable creative mind for the Star Trek franchise. His masterful work of the third and final season of Picard will benefit the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The problem with investing in building into the hypothetical Legacy is the uncertain future of the studio with merger talks, which obviously affects franchise plans. Paramount has attempted to infuse more momentum in their fourth Kelvin film recruiting Steve Yockey to pen the script and Simon Kinberg to take point producing the franchise prequel film potentially. Unfortunately, the television front is running a little thin with Discovery and Lower Decks' final seasons in 2024 and Picard ending in 2023, leaving Strange New Worlds as the only active series on Paramount+ with Starfleet Academy in development and Section 31 as a feature streamer exclusive. The question is how you reinvigorate the TV side of things. How about Seth MacFarlane?

The Orville: New Horizons: S03 E02 Review: Horror-ible Losses — Seth MacFarlane in The Orvile: New Horizons. Image courtesy of Hulu

Star Trek: Why Seth MacFarlane Should Get the Opportunity

Unless you've been living under a rock, MacFarlane's been responsible for Hulu's The Orville, pop culture and science fiction's best ode to Star Trek that's not a parody. For three seasons, he's been a triple threat starring, directing, and writing the series on top of juggling the mountain of other work he's had with his films, Ted, and animated empire of Family Guy and American Dad! He's also garnered largely universal praise from audiences to the far reaches of the Star Trek base, something Paramount is still weathering among divided fans of the current canon. Is this possible? Let's examine some of the problems we have on hand. The Orville we're finding out has had notoriously lengthy filming due to the creative process on the live-action series, which might explain in part why season four has yet to be greenlit. While he deserves the bulk of the credit, he's also had help having Star Trek vets like Brannon Braga and David A. Goodman on board and features a mix of actors who have also appeared on the franchise, like Penny Johnson Jerald, John Billingsley, and Robert Picardo.

Star Trek: Why Paramount Should Consider Seth MacFarlane [OPINION] — Connor Trinneer and Seth MacFarlane in "Star Trek: Enterprise". Image courtesy of Paramount

There's also the issue of MacFarlane's current deal with Universal which runs to 2025. That doesn't preclude him from working on projects with other studios as indicated by his upcoming The Naked Gun reboot for Paramount that stars Liam Neeson. MacFarlane's credited with the story, but isn't writing the screenplay, and Akiva Schaffer is directing. Barring any contractual issues with Universal, there shouldn't be any issues that prevent Paramount from seeing what he potentially has cooked up as some trial run conceptualizing a series before a possible new deal in 2025. Not to mention, like Braga, Goodman, and Matalas, MacFarlane also served his time on Star Trek: Enterprise with his on-screen two-episode stint. While the USS Orville might be stuck in the dock, why not give "Ed Mercer" another ship to point a new series in a new direction?

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