The Orville, Seth MacFarlane's live-action space dramedy series, has dropped its first trailer!
The Orville, Fox's upcoming live-action hour-long drama/comedy from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, represents one of the more puzzling television projects in the pipeline. Showcasing Star Trek-like future-set science fiction space series tropes, The Orville will see the creator and occasional actor co-star alongside perennial onscreen femme-fatale Adrianne Palicki. The series was promising enough for Fox to give it 13-episode season order last year and now the very first look at the series has arrived in a new trailer:
MacFarlane has provided the first cast photo of The Orville via tweet, showing the bridge of the titular ship with front-positioned primary stars in MacFarlane's space skipper Ed Mercer and Adrianne Palicki's first officer Kelly Grayson, both using unsubtle body language to represent the characters' tensions, since they also happen to be a divorced couple. Pictured in the background left-to-right are Penny Johnson Jerald's Dr. Claire Finn, Mark Jackson’s Isaac, Peter Macon’s Bortus, Scott Grimes’s Gordon Mallory, J. Lee’s John Lamarr and Halston Sage’s Alara Kitan.
The Orville Release Date
The Orville will debut on Fox this fall, set for Thursday nights at 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
The Orville Cast
Seth MacFarlane plays Ed Mercer, a bitter skipper in the Planetary Union, whose new command the U.S.S. Orville has him stuck with his ex-wife as his first officer. MacFarlane is the creator of Family Guy and American Dad and The Cleveland Show as well as writer/director and voice star of the Ted movies and the 2014 Western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West.
Adrianne Palicki plays Kelly Grayson, the Orville's first officer, whose status as the skipper's ex-wife will put the crew in the middle of comedic squabbles. The former Friday Night Lights and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress and star of David E. Kelley's nixed Wonder Woman television pilot, has been part of an immense array of sci-fi films and televisions shows. She notably took a memorable villainess turn opposite Keanu Reeves in the celebrated 2014 action film John Wick and was the cinematic realization of the classic character Lady Jaye in 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
Scott Grimes (E.R., Justified) plays Gordon Mallory, the Orville’s helmsman, whose repertory problems with authority should create an interesting dynamic since he’s also the best friend of its commanding officer Ed Mercer.
Peter Macon (Shameless, Bosch) plays Bortus an alien crewman and member of a single-sex species.
Penny Johnson Jerald (24, The Larry Sanders Show) plays Dr. Claire Finn, the Orville's doctor and one of the most accomplished physicians in the Planetary Union.
Mark Jackson (The Royal Today, That Peter Kay Thing) plays Isaac, a pretentious android from a society of machines who believes that biological life-forms are inferior.
J. Lee (American Dad, Family Guy) plays John Lamarr, the Orville’s navigator who brings ace piloting skills and humor.
Halston Sage (Crisis, Goosebumps) plays Alara Kitan, a young security officer serving on the Orville who wields exceptional physical strength; a trait attributed to her home planet’s high gravity.
Chad L. Coleman (The Walking Dead, The Wire) plays a character named Klyden.
Norm MacDonald (Saturday Night Live, The Norm Show) voices Yaphit, a gelatinous creature.
Larry Joe Campbell (Best Friends Whenever, According to Jim) will play a yet-to-be-named recurring character.
The Orville Story
Per Fox's official show synopsis:
"The Orville is a one-hour science fiction series set 400 years in the future that follows the adventures of the U.S.S. Orville, a mid-level exploratory vessel. Its crew, both human and alien, faces the wonders and dangers of outer space, while also dealing with the familiar, often humorous problems of regular people in a workplace…even though some of those people are from other planets, and the workplace is a faster-than-light spaceship. In the 25th century, Earth is part of the Planetary Union, a far-reaching, advanced and mostly peaceful civilization with a fleet of 3,000 ships."
The Orville Crew
Seth MacFarlane, besides serving as star, is also the creator and executive producer of The Orville, mixing elements of sci-fi drama with his signature brand of sophisticated sophomoric humor.
Jon Favreau, director of Marvel's first two Iron Man films and The Jungle Book, occupies the director's chair for The Orville pilot.
The Season 1 directors pool also contains names such as Brannon Braga, James L. Conway, Jonathan Frakes, Robert Duncan McNeil and Seth MacFarlane himself.