The Orville Season 3 Finally Wraps Filming

That’s a wrap on season 3 of The Orville. It’s been quite the wait for fans on the third season of the hit sci-fi comedy series, as season 2 concluded in April 2019. Delays related to the pandemic certainly hasn’t helped production on season 3 move along any more quickly. Fortunately, by posting an image from the set, series creator Seth MacFarlane has confirmed that filming has finally wrapped on The Orville season 3.

In the caption, MacFarlane writes: “And that is a wrap on season 3 of The Orville! Thank you to our incomparable cast and crew for their tireless and brilliant work, and I sincerely hope this is not the last time we all go to space.”

Originally, The Orville debuted on Fox in 2017. After two seasons, the series made the move to the streaming service Hulu where season 3 will exclusively premiere. Because of the delays, there was no telling when the season would even be finished filming, let alone when it would finally arrive on Hulu. In September of last year, Seth MacFarlane offered an update to say that everyone was working hard on the series, but there was still no timetable in mind.

“All I can say is we’re working on it,” MacFarlane said. “We’re working very hard. We got hit by this just like everyone else, but we are working on it. We will be back soon, folks. There has been a lot of speculation online: Will the show come back? The show is still a huge priority for me and for the cast and everyone else. We do have a season to finish, and we are going to finish it. For a show with a lot of prosthetic makeup that requires close contact, a lot of background artists, it’s a big job, and you want to make sure you do it in a way that keeps everyone safe and secure. Once we have those protocols figured out, we will start up again and you will get more Orville.”

Seth MacFarlane also stars in The Orville in the lead role of Captain Ed Mercer, the commanding officer of the titular ship. The series also stars Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, Halston Sage, J. Lee, Mark Jackson, and Jessica Szohr. It follows Mercer and his crew aboard the USS Orville, a mid-level exploratory vessel in the Planetary Union. Inspired by Star Trek with a comedic edge, the show has built itself up a strong following after its first two seasons.

While The Orville might have finally wrapped filming on season 3, it’s unclear when the new episodes will premiere on Hulu. Even so, it’s fantastic news that the season is in the can, as we can’t be too far off from seeing some new footage. The new season will consist of 11 episodes, which is fewer than the first two seasons, but the episodes will be longer in length. MacFarlane also served as a director for some of the episodes along with Jon Cassar.

Topics: The Orville