By Published Apr 18, 2026, 7:15 PM EDT Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock. follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
Gene Roddenberry laid out the template for every science fiction series that followed with . In an era rife with political divisions and brink-of-nuclear-war paranoia, Roddenberry imagined a utopian distant future where the human race had come together to co-exist in harmony and explore the cosmos together. It can’t be overstated what a big deal it was to depict a Black communications officer, a Japanese helmsman, and a Russian navigator all on the same crew in 1966.
More than three decades later, in 1999, when (and Star Trek itself had seen a resurgence in popularity from the movie franchise and The Next Generation), Simpsons creator Matt Groening came along and revolutionized the genre once again. that made The Simpsons a hit, but brought them 1,000 years into the future. The series is a tongue-in-cheek takedown of all the tropes and clichés that came out of Star Trek’s influence.
Now, we have a nice, healthy mix of straightforward sci-fi shows, like Dark and For All Mankind, and , like The Boys and Rick and Morty. But there’s one show that expertly walks the fine line between the two. combines the sharp satire of Futurama with the sincerity of Star Trek.
The Orville Gets Better With Each Season
When it was announced that Seth MacFarlane was making a Star Trek-inspired sci-fi series, I was expecting Family Guy in space. I thought it would have all the crude humor and random cutaway gags and cynical, pitch-black comic bite that Family Guy and American Dad! and Ted and all MacFarlane’s other works are known for, just in an intergalactic setting. But I was dead wrong; as Star Trek ever was. It takes some lighthearted jabs at Star Trek traditions, just like Futurama, but it also shares Star Trek’s heart-on-its-sleeve sincerity and optimism.
In the mid-to-late ‘60s, a very fraught period in American history, Star Trek’s bright, colorful, inviting future was a refreshing antidote to the bleak, dystopian futures seen in The Time Machine and Planet of the Apes. In the mid-to-late 2010s, another very fraught period in American history, The Orville had the same effect. It relieved the bleakness and brutality of The Purge and Black Mirror and Snowpiercer and Mad Max: Fury Road by looking forward to a much brighter future.
Why The Orville Season 4 Needs To Happen
After airing two seasons on Fox, The Orville got moved to Hulu during the Disney-Fox merger and released its third season there. Now, it’s unclear if we’ll ever get a fourth season. The show hasn’t been officially canceled, but it’s also been nearly four years since we heard any news. The Orville seems to be dead in the water, caught in the rift between two merging corporations, but there’s still hope that the show will eventually return. It’s popular enough to warrant more episodes, and it never had a proper ending.
It’s important to take MacFarlane’s busy schedule into account. He still has about a dozen different voice roles on each of his long-running animated shows, and he’s been making two separate Ted series for Peacock. So, the fact that we haven’t had any firm updates about isn’t necessarily because Hulu doesn’t want to order any more episodes; they might just be waiting until MacFarlane is available.
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Now that has dropped on Peacock (it’s hilarious, by the way, check it out), MacFarlane might finally have space in his schedule for The Orville season 4. The series’ message inspires us to hold out hope, anyway.
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