Despite earlier confirming that The Orville was renewed for a third season we’ve learned the series has now found itself a new home.
Variety is reporting that the 20th Century Fox production will be moving from its home with the FOX Broadcasting Company to a new home with Hulu.
The move makes sense given than Disney now owns the lions share of Hulu as well as owning the production company behind the series. This means Disney can have full control of producing and distributing the show rather than pay a hefty licensing fee to FOX Broadcasting.
Creator Seth McFarlane as released a statement detailing the move:
“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.“
“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. 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,” he explained.
“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.”
Season 3 is expected to enter production in late 2019 for an autumn 2020 debut. The move is not expected to interfere with international broadcasting rights for the series which airs here on FOX UK.
The Orville stars Seth MacFarlane, Adrianne Palicki, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, Penny Johnson Jerald, Halston Sage, J. Lee, and Mark Jackson.
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