Charlize Theron is returning to our TV screens for a one-time engagement
There’s good news for anyone who misses Arrested Development character Rita, Michael Bluth’s British girlfriend. Charlize Theron is returning to TV for an unknown role in Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville, a dramedy on Fox. According to Deadline, there’s no official confirmation about who Theron will be playing on the show, but she’s definitely signed on for at least a one-episode cameo. We love when Theron tries her hand at being a goof-ball.
Theron is one of those actresses who’s pretty much good at any role she plays. She knows how to bring the drama to more serious roles, can kick butt in actions movies (like her Bond-esque Atomic Blonde), and is also really, really funny. On Arrested Development, she played a quirky British woman who Jason Bateman’s character met and fell in love with at Wee Britain.
The Orville is billed as a Star Trek-inspired show that takes place on the USS Orville. The human and alien crew members tackle “the battles and politics of speed-of-light galactic travel and the workplace dramas” that happen even in the middle of space, in any time zone. It should be pretty ridiculous, and a perfect fit for Theron, especially coming from the Family Guy creator.
This will be her second TV role ever, though she and MacFarlane already know each other.
They shouldn’t have any trouble getting along on set, since Theron worked with MacFarlane back in 2014. They were costars in A Million Ways to Die in the West, which has been described by Reese Witherspoon as the “worst script” she has ever read. But Theron saw the film as a fun challenge, even back then, and wasn’t scared of doing the kind of oddball comedy the role called for.
“There was something that felt like unchartered territory here. It was a bit of a challenge, which I liked,” she told Vogue at the time.
She also said that she loves the idea of playing all different kinds of roles. “I’ve never had this quintessential idea of a person or a thing to play … That’s the great thing about this job — you don’t know what’s around the corner, and I love the mystery of that. I love not knowing what the story is going to be,” she said.
So who knows what MacFarlane has in store for her on the USS Orville. We bet it’s going to be pretty hilarious, though.
