The Orville Season 4: Everything We Know So Far

For three seasons, Seth MacFarlane's "Star Trek"-inspired sci-fi comedy-drama "The Orville" has brought fans a charming combination of space adventures and warm-hearted jokes. It has jumped channels from Fox to Hulu, reinvented itself from its much-criticized first season to the beloved second and third, and generally proved that among all MacFarlane-created shows and films, it's the little show that could. 

Not that "The Orville" is a small show by any means. Science fiction enthusiasts are always ready for more quality shows, so more of this increasingly ambitious space exploration series would quite likely be appreciated by fans both old and new. Still, it's somewhat troubling that "The Orville" season 3 finale — titled "Future Unknown" — aired all the way back in 2022, and season 4 is still a distant spot on the horizon, if even that. What, then, is the status of "The Orville" season 4? When can you expect it to premiere ... and should you even expect it in the first place? Let's take a deep dive in everything we know about the show's fourth season. 

Wherefore art thou, "The Orville" season 4? At this time, there has been no concrete news on the renewal of the show, let alone a premiere date announcement. This doesn't mean that "The Orville" season 4 is never coming. Things could very well be rumbling along in the background, as evidenced by the fact that the season was listed on the December 5, 2024 issue of Production Weekly – implying that production was about to kick off. For whatever reason, though, it seems this didn't happen. During an August 2025 appearance on the "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" podcast (via Deadline), Seth MacFarlane confirmed that the season's future is still very much in the air, though he did express hope that it will eventually happen.  

Knowing that Disney hasn't actually greenlit the season yet complicates matters when it comes to premiere dates. Still, out of scientific interest, let's calculate a potential timeline. Fox (which was home to the show for its first two season before it moved on Hulu) announced in May 2019 that season 3 is coming. Production started in October 2019, but experienced delays due to the lockdowns caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, the filming of "The Orville" season 3 didn't wrap up until August 2021, and the season didn't premiere until June 2, 2022.

Because of the third season's bumpy production, it may be better to use season 2 as a rough comparison point. "The Orville" was renewed for season 2 in November 2017, and the sophomore season's first episode (titled "Ja'loja") aired in December 30, 2018. Assuming a similar production cycle, you can expect season 4 to premiere roughly one year after its official announcement.

At this time, it's virtually impossible to know what "The Orville" season 4 is about, given its non-existent production status and a distinct lack of news on the story arc front. However, there's another reason why the season's themes are incredibly difficult to predict. Seth MacFarlane has said that he might flip "The Orville" on its head after the season 3 finale, which is something he has experience with. The show's sophomore season was all about the dangerous artificial race of Kaylons rising against the "inferior" biological lifeforms and effectively rebelling against the rest of the galaxy. Season 3 utterly flipped the script, slowly bringing the Kaylons back in the Planetary Union's "uneasy allies" fold and making an alliance of Moclans and Krills the season's ultimate threat instead. 

"The Orville" season 3 is subtitled "New Horizons," and fittingly, it ends with a touching wedding and more or less resets the status quo, allowing the show to effectively take things anywhere. Further muddying the waters is the MacFarlane novella "The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil," which tells the story of a planned but unfilmed episode that was originally supposed to air as season 3, episode 9. Its story features Adam Collier, a child who grew up in an Environmental Simulation machine where his desperate parents hid him just before being imprisoned by the Krill. Unfortunately, the simulation young Adam ends up in focuses on pre-World War II Germany, and he grows up to become a particularly enthusiastic Nazi.

The combination of the narrative twists seen in "Sympathy for the Devil" and the season 3 ending mean that there's quite literally no telling what to expect from "The Orville" season 4. Expect the show to push the envelope as far as it can, though. 

"The Orville: New Horizons" aired in 2022 and there's little chance that the potential season 4 will premiere before late 2026 — though 2027 or beyond seems more likely with every passing week we go without renewal or production news. Adrianne Palicki (who plays Commander Kelly Grayson) has already hinted in a 2023 appearance on the "Inside of You" podcast (via /Film's sister site TVLine) that while she would love to do a fourth season, the show's glacial production pace might make it difficult to fit in her packed schedule. 

One character we can be sure would be returning, though, is Seth MacFarlane's Captain Ed Mercer. MacFarlane being the show's star and key creative, there's no "The Orville" without him. We can probably pencil in Palicki's name for now, too. Others who can reasonably be expected to return include Dr. Claire Finn (Penny Johnson Jerald), Lt. Commander Bortus (Peter Macon), Lt. Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes), Lt. Commander Talla Keyali (Jessica Szohr), Klyden (Chad L. Coleman), and Isaac (Mark Jackson). 

A likely new addition is Lysella Ravada (Giorgia Whigham), a season 1 character who returns for the "New Horizons" season finale and is pretty noticeably set up to join the good folks aboard USS Orville as Kelly's protege. Lt. Alara Kitan (Halston Sage) also cameos in the finale after departing the show in season 2, though the character's gravity-related health issues will likely continue to prevent regular appearances going forward. 

As it stands, some major players unfortunately won't be returning. Legendary comedian and "Saturday Night Live" star Norm MacDonald's death in 2021 means that he won't be back to voice the gelatinous fan-favorite Lt. Yaphit. Anne Winters' Ensign Charly Burke is also unlikely to return after the events of season 3 episode "Domino."

Apart from starring in the series, Seth MacFarlane is the main writer, showrunner, producer (via his Fuzzy Door Productions company, together with 20th Television), and director of "The Orville." As such, if the show does return, expect him to resume all of the aforementioned roles in full capacity. 

That said, he's not shouldering the entire creative effort himself. "The Orville" has had several directors since its inception. A regular feature of the show's early seasons is that several of its directors have "Star Trek" connections: Longtime "Star Trek" franchise player Brannon Braga, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" star Jonathan Frakes and "Star Trek: Voyager" star Robert Duncan McNeill, and "Star Trek" director James L. Conway have all sat on the director's chair for multiple episodes. Folks like "Alias" and "Lost" director Tucker Gates and Jamie Babbit of "Russian Doll" and "Only Murders in the Building" fame have also directed for the show. For season 3, however, MacFarlane settled on a pattern where he shared director duties with just one person — "24" director Jon Cassar. As such, it makes sense to assume that the possible season 4 will also largely use this director duo. 

While the show's story is also largely in MacFarlane's hands, individual episodes have been written by others — most notably the team of Braga and "Star Trek" writer Andre Bormanis. "Family Guy" writers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and David A. Goodman (who also worked on "Star Trek: Enterprise") also worked on episodes of "The Orville" season 3, so it's likely that a combination of MacFarlane, people who have a history of working with him, and major "Star Trek" operators will share writing duties going forward. 

A keen reader has no doubt noticed the asterisks this article is sprinkled with when it comes to any solid information about whether "The Orville" season 4 will in fact be made at all. This is because there really is no solid proof that the season is coming, just plenty of whispers in the wind. 

As President Craig Erwich of ABC Entertainment, Hulu & Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals told TVLine in January 2023, the love for "The Orville" is there, even if the ink on paper isn't. "It's a great show and I know that the fans loved having it back in their lives," Erwich said. "And Seth did a great job, uniquely as he can, in front of and behind the camera. But we don't have anything to share right now." As for MacFarlane himself, he has made no bones about the fact that "The Orville" is still kicking as far as he's concerned. "All I can tell you is that there is no official death certificate for The Orville," MacFarlane said in a January 2024 interview with The Wrap. "It is still with us. I can't go any further than that at the moment. There are too many factors."

At the end of the day, the reason for all this shuffling of feet may be simple. Perhaps the show's ambitious scope, arduous production, and comparative lack of name recognition in a genre dominated by spin-offs of existing IPs make it a difficult thing to commit to in the post-pandemic struggles of the entertainment industry. Still, it seems clear that MacFarlane has the will to keep the show going. Perhaps, he will also find the way to actually do so.