‘The Orville’ Moves From Fox to Hulu for Season 3
Seth MacFarlane’s “The Orville” is beaming over from Fox to Hulu for its upcoming third season.
The sci-fi series’ creator and star shared the news himself during the show’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, revealing Season 3 will launch on the streaming service as a Hulu original in late 2020.
An individual with knowledge of the “Star Trek”-esque show’s move from Fox to Hulu told TheWrap that “Orville” studio 20th Century Fox Television and MacFarlane worked closely with the broadcast network and streaming service to make the shift happen, as Fox had already renewed the series for Season 3 back in May.
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Another insider close to the situation said that MacFarlane’s current work schedule would make it difficult to complete new episodes of “The Orville” — which he writes, produces, directs, edits and stars on — in time to make its intended mid-season,. Moving the show to Hulu, where its repeats currently stream, would allow him to bring it back “more loosely,” the insider said.
“‘The Orville’ has been a labor of love for me, and there are two companies which have supported that vision in a big way: 20th Century Fox Television, where I’ve had a deal since the start of my career, and Fox Broadcasting Company, now Fox Entertainment, which has been my broadcast home for over 20 years,” MacFarlane said in a statement. “My friends at the network understood what I was trying to do with this series, and they’ve done a spectacular job of marketing, launching and programming it for these past two seasons.”
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He added: “But as the show has evolved and become more ambitious production-wise, I determined that I would not be able to deliver episodes until 2020, which would be challenging for the network. So we began to discuss how best to support the third season in a way that worked for the show. It’s exactly this kind of willingness to accommodate a show’s creative needs that’s made me want to stick around for so long. I am hugely indebted to Charlie Collier and Fox Entertainment for their generosity and look forward to developing future projects there. And to my new friends at Hulu, I look forward to our new partnership exploring the galaxy together.”
“The Orville” is a live-action, one-hour space adventure series set 400 years in the future that follows the U.S.S. Orville, a mid-level exploratory spaceship. Its crew, both human and alien, face the wonders and dangers of outer space, while also dealing with the problems of everyday life.
“Fox Entertainment has been a fantastic home for ‘The Orville’ and their willingness to support the show’s move to Hulu is incredibly appreciated; they really are great partners to us on so many shows and this is one more example,” said Carolyn Cassidy, 20th Century Fox Television president of creative affairs. “We’re thrilled as a studio to find this creative solution which is so meaningful to Seth and keeps the show on track to continue entertaining its millions of fans.”
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“We know our viewers are huge fans of ‘The Orville,’ along with many of Seth MacFarlane’s groundbreaking hit shows, and we can’t wait to bring Season 3 to them exclusively on the platform,” Craig Erwich, senior vice president of content development at Hulu, added. “Hulu is a home for the world’s most sought-after creative talent, and we’re incredibly excited to welcome Seth and the entire cast and creative team of ‘The Orville’ to our Hulu originals slate.”
The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Fuzzy Door Productions. MacFarlane created the series and writes, executive producing alongside Brannon Braga, David A. Goodman, Jason Clark and Jon Cassar.
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