The Orville: New Horizons star Chad L. Coleman revealed that a fourth season of the beloved sci-fi series is looking very "promising."

During an interview with CinemaBlend to talk about his new role as Bruno Mannheim on Superman and Lois, Coleman was asked if he had heard anything regarding a fourth season of The Orville: New Horizons. "We’re all in the loop and out of the loop. We think it’s gonna happen, but it’s still up in the air," he admitted. "There’s so much going on with all of these studios that it’s just like, 'Well, we gotta settle this thing first, then we can really decide on that thing.' A bunch of that is going on. We hope so. [Series creator] Seth [MacFarlane] has an amazing relationship with Dana [Walden] and with Disney, who’s running it now. And they said they’ve had promising meetings, so we’ll see."

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Created by MacFarlane -- who also stars as series protagonist Ed Mercer -- The Orville premiered on Fox in September 2017, following the crew of the starship USS Orville, a mid-level exploratory vessel in the Planetary Union. The series initially began as a parody of the original Star Trek series, receiving largely negative reviews from critics in the process. However, the second season saw a shift in tone to more complex storylines in the vein of Star Trek: The Next Generation leading to more positive reviews. After two seasons on Fox, the series moved to Hulu for its third season, which aired under the new title, The Orville: New Horizons.

The Orville Season 4 Is a Blank Slate

While The Orville Season 3 finale, "Future Unknown," did a good job wrapping up some of the show's overarching storylines, the season also featured new developments and setups that would likely be explored in a fourth season. MacFarlane admitted that the writers' room "set up threads this year, and most were pretty obvious, that lend themselves to payoffs in a Season 4." However, he also referred to a potential Season 4 as "a blank slate," explaining that they won't know how "everything intertwines and evolves and develops" until they are picked up and begin writing the next season.

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Disney+ May Help Orville's Renewal Odds

MacFarlane previously stated The Orville being added to Disney+ in August 2022 was "a potential game changer" for the show's renewal odds since it will put the show in front of a whole new audience who may give it a chance. However, he promised fans that if The Orville's arrival on Disney+ doesn't help the show's renewal chances, he would not give up on getting a fourth season made, saying, "I will say that I get as emotionally invested in the show as any of the fans, so I will find a way to do it if there is a Season 4."

All three seasons of The Orville are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.

Source: CinemaBlend