Posted in: Adult Swim, Hulu, Opinion, Rick and Morty, TV, TV | Tagged: Adult Swim, hulu, opinion, rick and morty, The Orville

The Orville: Time for Seth MacFarlane to Go "Rick and Morty" Route?

As we await word on the show's fate, could going the route that Rick and Morty went be the answer for Seth MacFarlane's The Orville?

Okay, we hate to start things off with a look at the calendar – but how can we not? It's been 570 days… 1 year, 6 months & 21 days… since the appropriately-titled "Future Unknown" hit Hulu screens. And with that, Seth MacFarlane's The Orville (with "New Horizons" now added) came to an end for a third season – and maybe for good? It's hard to say. Because just when we're ready to administer last rites to any remaining hope, something comes up that keeps us holding on a little longer. Back at the beginning of the year, during an interview with Collider, MacFarlane was asked if there was anything he could offer in terms of an update – and while he couldn't get into specifics, MacFarlane did add: "How do I answer this question? It is not officially over yet, no." Since that time… nothing. Previously, we speculated that the delay in a decision might be due to what Disney & Comcast have going on with Hulu. But then there's another perspective we hadn't addressed – or even considered – up to this point. And if this is the case, then maybe MacFarlane could take a page of out of the playbook of… yes, Adult Swim's Rick and Morty.

Back in November 2023, Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson) was speaking with Michael Rosenbaum on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast. At one point during the interview, Rosenbaum brings up that she's currently working on a series as a segue into a conversation about The Orville, where Palicki expressed how much she enjoyed the show itself but that the lag time between seasons was frustrating on a number of levels – including how it impacted the actors' abilities to take on new projects. "No, it became an actual real issue because there would be so much time in-between… between seasons – because Seth [MacFarlane] wanted to write everything himself – so it would just take so much time. And at one point, we were like, 'We have to fight the studio to give us a holding fee or something' because, you know, J. Lee was eating Saltines and Gatorade at one point because we just couldn't afford anything. It was horrible."

And that's the part we missed the first time around – because as far as The Orville goes, MacFarlane really does keep an active hand: writer, director, actor & executive producer. That's a lot of hats for one person to wear at any one time – especially when you're someone like MacFarlane, who wants to make sure that what hits our screens represents only the very best that the series has to offer. But MacFarlane has a whole lot more plates spinning at the same time – between shows that are on the air (for example, Family Guy, Amercian Dad! & Ted) along with more than a few projects in various stages of development (for example, an animated take on Norman Lear's classic sitcom Good Times) – making his time stretched even further.

So if that's the case, then maybe… we're just going to put it out there… it's time for MacFarlane to take on a more over-arching executive producer/creator role who oversees the "big picture" when it comes to The Orville. From there, build up a strong creative unit with a managing showrunner while continuing to have writers in the writers' room and directors at the helm who have a passion for the series. Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon explained that the Emmy Award-winning series took that approach when they realized that they were going to be in it for the long haul, so there needed to be a structure & system in place – and it's been a huge success (even with the Justin Roiland matter and SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes). Back in December 2023, Showrunner Scott Marder shared with us during an interview that the writing team was already in the middle of writing the ninth season – a perfect example of how Harmon entrusting his series into the creative hands of others proved to be a huge benefit to all – especially the viewers.

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