The Orville, creator and star Seth MacFarlane’s ode to classic Star Trek has been renewed by FOX for a third season.
Not much more is known about the renewal, including how many episodes have been ordered for the new season or when it will air, though those answers should be forthcoming when the network has its upfronts for advertisers and press later this month.
MacFarlane stars as Ed Mercer, captain of the titular exploratory space ship 400 years in the future. Although he and his crew, headed by Adrianne Palicki as Mercer’s ex-wife and current second-in-command, the try to uphold the ideals of the Planetary Union, though they may occasionally stumble.
When it premiered, The Orville was criticized for feeling like too much of a clone of Star Trek: The Next Generation and for its uneven blend of science-fiction and character-driven comedy. However, as the show has grown, it has managed to create a smoother flow between the two.
The show has also been able to shake off the Next Generation comparisons by taking some more dramatic storytelling risks than that first Star Trek spinoff series ever managed to do. In comparison to CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Discovery and its straying from the core ideals of the Star Trek franchise as laid down by original series Gene Roddenberry, many have said that The Orville is the best Star Trek series on the air right now.
