Months after reports that Seth MacFarlane completed the script for The Orville Season 4, we now have rumors that production on the season is set to kick off in the fall. Amidst chatter that we may see the sci-fi series finally start filming as the 2026 TV schedule plays out, series director Jon Cassar had to refute them.
News surfaced recently from Moviedelic that The Orville Season 4 was about to start splitting time between filming in Los Angeles and Prague in October, which was some big news to break. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be true, as Cassar responded to a fan with the following when asked about it:
Its an old article - still no confirmation - It'll be very obvious when its true.
This means that the latest news from March remains the same. Specifically, it's that Season 4 of The Orville is written, but Seth MacFarlane is still trying to find out when there will be time in his schedule to film it. Let's not forget he'll have to also wrangle the case back together, some of which have signaled they may not be willing to sign on.
It's hard to be mad at the cast, as this entire situation continues to be baffling. Disney wouldn't officially renew or cancel it for years, leaving it in limbo after a Season 3 finale that left fans wondering what's going on. The stars don't seem to know what's going on either, and obviously couldn't just wait around for years hoping it would return and rejecting other jobs that come their way.
In the meantime, Seth MacFarlane remains one of the busier creatives in Hollywood. He has a litany of projects in the works that he's involved with in varying capacities, including a recently announced Dungeon Crawler Carl series. The script being done certainly helps, but it's not going to be the only thing necessary to get this off the ground.
While I'm still interested in seeing The Orville return for another season, I do genuinely wonder how the series will do after such an extended break from streaming. Obviously, fans can use their Hulu subscription for a refresher on previous seasons.
Before any of that happens, however, we need some solid confirmation that filming is going to happen, and that this series will actually return. I hate that I'm still so skeptical about any positive momentum toward Season 4 happening at this point. But after four years, I'm usually the first these days to tell people not to get too excited just yet.
The Orville, as mentioned, is available on streaming on Hulu and on Disney+. I'm past due for a rewatch, so maybe I'll prioritize that before the fall TV schedule gets rolling, just in case work on Season 4 does get underway.
