The Orville: New Horizons is nearing the end of Season 3, and fans are getting increasingly curious about whether or not they’ll hear about a renewal for Season 4 soon. Many hoped news about a new season might arrive during the show’s recent panel at San Diego Comic-Con, but instead, we learned that Seasons 1-3 will arrive on Disney+ in the United States soon. Some fans might not know how to feel about that, but according to director Jon Cassar, it’s a good thing.
Disney+ will add The Orville to its library on Wednesday, August 10, and I had the honor of asking director Jon Cassar how fans should feel about this. Cassar, who directed half of the episodes of Season 3, shared his thoughts on why this is good news for fans and likened the announcement to when the show announced the move from Fox to Hulu:
I mean, first of all, you know the fans were a little upset [at first] that it wasn’t on a network, and they had to go to Hulu for it. You know, it’s funny because there were a lot of complaints before it started airing. I haven’t heard a single one since, so I guess it’s ok…But look, it just gives you more people. People that maybe don’t have Hulu and just have Disney+.
Jon Cassar makes a great point that not everyone has a Hulu subscription, and Disney+ is a popular streaming platform. The Orville’s arrival could expose the series to a much wider audience and maybe even some former fans who wanted to check Season 3 out but didn’t want to spring for Hulu.
The Orville: New Horizons’ arrival coincides with Disney+ allowing more mature content on its platform, such as Logan and Deadpool. Jon Cassar added that while it may be strange for folks living in the United States that The Orville will be on Disney+, it’s actually the norm in other countries like Canada:
It’s interesting because I was shooting in Canada recently – I was doing Kiefer Sutherland’s new show in Toronto – and of course, I was watching all The Orville there on Disney+. Outside of America, Disney+ is the main carrier of Orville because Hulu is only American. It doesn’t play anywhere else in the world, Disney+ plays everywhere. So, I was already used to seeing our banner up there besides Star Wars and Marvel. I kind of liked it up there! It looked pretty good. So it’s going to be fun to see it there again.
As a fan of The Orville, it does sound pretty exciting that it’ll exist on a platform that also houses Star Wars, The Muppets, and other franchises that the Seth MacFarlane series regularly references. I know many are thankful for the more serious storylines, but wouldn’t it be wild to see Captain Ed Mercer consult Kermit the Frog for advice in a hologram sequence?
It’s even possible that The Orville’s homages and quotes could eventually pull in folks who are fans of other big franchises but never gave the series a chance. Jon Cassar stated that Disney+ is a great home for a sci-fi series, where there’s possibly an audience who hasn’t found it yet:
It seems to be the place for people that are into sci-fi. They’re sci-fi heavy over there on Disney+. So, we’re just going to be right up there with the rest of them, and maybe people that haven’t seen it before get to say, ‘Hey, let’s try this. I saw all the Star Wars, now let me go to The Orville.’ So I think it’s a good thing.
Fans already know from the cast that The Orville: New Horizons’ continuation largely relies on streaming numbers and fans talking it up on social media. If nothing else, at least the premiere on Disney+ will give the show another chance to prove it can be a viable asset to Disney and a series worth continuing well into the future like its major franchises.
The Orville: New Horizons still has new episodes premiering on Hulu on Thursdays. Tune in for the final episodes there, and be ready to stream Seasons 1-3 over on Disney+ when it arrives on Wednesday, August 10.
