Posted in: Disney+, Hulu, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: disney, opinion, seth macfarlane, star trek, The Orville, The Orville: New Horizons

The Orville: Stop Dragging Your (Mouse) Feet on Show's Fate, Disney

Paramount+ renewed three Star Trek shows & announced a new one - and we STILL haven't heard from Disney regarding the fate of The Orville.

If I were Disney, I could understand being hesitant to renew a successful science fiction series like The Orville, knowing creator and star Seth MacFarlane has a number of projects in play elsewhere, like with NBC/Universal and their streaming platform Peacock. At the same time, his animated shows Family Guy and American Dad! are firmly still Disney-owned 20th Television Studio productions. In light of the news of Paramount+ renewing their current Star Trek shows with Strange New Worlds, Prodigy, and Lower Decks and introducing their new Starfleet Academy series, it's about time the Mouse finally acts on The Orville: either renew it for a fourth season or let it find a home more deserving.

Why The Orville Deserves Better

As you've heard here numerous times throughout the fan community, including here, The Orville is arguably the best Star Trek-inspired series in sci-fi history. Before New Horizons, there were doubts that it could sustain itself in the streaming era on Hulu. But it went far above and beyond expectations, even after the three-year layoff (which certainly wasn't helped by the pandemic). Not only did the fans from the FOX era come back, but it's also been embraced by the greater Star Trek community helping to elevate the sci-fi genre. If the concern is MacFarlane's availability creatively, then why not spread the creative responsibilities around? So MacFarlane could still write, direct, and be a hands-on executive producer while leaving the day-to-day to Star Trek vets Brannon Braga and David A Goodman, along with Jon Cassar, who can guide the ship all the same. There are more than enough capable creative minds from the Trek tree available who can be the next Ronald D. Moore or Terry Matalas.

MacFarlane has shown he's more than interested in resuming his starring role, and the bulk of the cast and crew are still active in pushing for the series' renewal. And let's just say that there's no doubt that they carry a lot of love for the show and its fans. They all feel your pain about their show's uncertain fate. If Disney doesn't have faith that the series can be sustained, then they owe it to them and their fans to not leave them twisting in the wind (or space) – especially as they came off their best season. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, either greenlight The Orville Season 4 or let it seek out "new horizons" elsewhere.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!