The Orville is Back, and Longer Than Ever

The Orville is moving to Hulu

Fans of The Orville rejoice! Filming has started on season three of the hit Trek-alike series.

A piece from Cinemablend yesterday highlighted a collection of social media posts from The Orville’s cast and crew, showing sneak peeks from pre-production and the cast’s return to set. First, Penny Johnson Jerald, The Orville’s Dr. Finn, shared a “first day dance”. The official Orville Instagram posted a picture of Scott Grimes and Jessica Szohr, aka Gordon and Talla, at a table read; and finally, co-producer Tom Constantino posted a closeup of one of the Orville’s consoles, promising more fun to come.

And more fun is definitely to come. Next season, The Orville moves from broadcast television on FOX to streaming-only on Hulu. While the move has faced criticism from fans, series creator and star Seth MacFarlane has said that the move was chiefly to “support the third season in a way that worked for the show.” Part of that support will come in the form of longer episodes. Responding to a fan’s tweet from New York Comic Con, who said that the best part of The Orville’s panel was that there would be 10 extra minutes per episode, Constantino replied, “10, try 12-15”. It remains to be seen whether the extra-long episodes will entice broadcast viewers to stump up the extra $5.99 (or more) a month for Hulu’s service.

The Orville season three is expected to premiere on Hulu sometime in late 2020.