Watch: Time Goes By In Preview Of ‘The Orville: New Horizons’ Season Finale “Future Unknown”

On Thursday, August 4 The Orville: New Horizons wraps up with the tenth episode titled “Future Unknown.” We have a sneak peek at the season finale, plus an update on what’s next for The Orville.

“Future Unknown”

Synopsis:

A celebration is underway aboard the ship on the season three finale of “The Orville: New Horizons”.

Preview video:

Satisfying end… with laugh-crying

Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con ten days ago (via remote) show creator and star Seth MacFarlane avoided spoilers, but had this to say about how New Horizons wraps up:

There is a nice shape to the season. All I can say is you will be creatively satisfied by the end of it.

And on Twitter, co-producer Tom Costantino previewed the season finale suggesting fans may end up crying, laughing, or both.

Future is unknown for The Orville

As for the future of the series, at Comic-Con MacFarlane made it clear he and the cast and crew want to return for a fourth season, but it depends on Disney, and how the season has performed:

We don’t know, and I don’t think we will know until this season finishes… We just don’t know. All we can say is, if as many people as possible watch the show, tell your friends, then like anything else, we have a shot. I think there is a demand for it. There is certainly a desire for it on our end.

Arriving on Disney+ (and saying on Hulu too)

We do know one thing about what’s next for the series. A few days after the season finale, The Orville will arrive on Dinsey+ in the USA. In addition to remaining available on Hulu, starting August 10, all three seasons will also be available on Disney+. Seth MacFarlane made the announcement at Comic-Con (see below). In Canada and around the world (where Hulu isn’t available) The Orville had already been added to Disney+ before New Horizons debuted.

Disney also released a statement from MacFarlane, saying:

I’m thrilled to bring all three seasons of The Orville to Disney+. Making this show has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my career, and I’m immensely grateful to Disney for providing us the opportunity to expand our Orville community further. I can’t wait for new audiences to experience this series.

And a new poster…

Inside The Orville

Finally, Hulu has released an inside look at last week’s big episode “Domino,” with commentary from the cast and creatives.


Keep up with all The Orville news and analysis on TrekMovie.

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Interesting that it’s moving to D+. I wonder if slowly but surely Disney is moving to having one streaming service instead of two.

It’s been available on D+ in Canada for about a month before the first episode of S3 premiered, mainly because Canada doesn’t have access to Hulu. Not making S3 available at all in Canada would have meant people would have used “alternate” means to watch the show.

Disney will own 100% of Hulu in a couple of years. But Hulu may be kept separate as the “adult” service.

(Disney owns 20th and thus The Orville.)

Possibly, but D+ is adding adult content.

Capt. Pike already has ordered Ortegas to move as fast as possible away from Disney+ to avoid being swallowed like the Star Wars franchise ;-)

I sometimes enjoyed the show when I could blur my eyes and not see Seth McFarlane trying to be serious and dramatic. Or, the blatant rip-off of TNG. If the show was a parody of TNG I could have handled the look. But, it tried to be serious. Had they created their own distinct look and presence, I could have enjoyed it more. They didn’t, and I didn’t.

All of that I LOVE about the show… Being Trek while not being at the same time. Being a parody while not… That’s a hell of a ride on the razor’s edge and exactly why I love it.

And on top of that, Seth slept with two of his cast members. One had to left the cast when they broke up, which ruined one of the more interesting storylines. And then the other was inserted into the story as a character that was not likeable in any way, but got a ton of focus for no reason whatsoever.

Imagine what those same fans would say if Kurtzman were to do the same.

I assume the same things they said about Brannon Braga dating Jeri Ryan?

She actually got a lot of flak that. I still see pretty unkind things insinuated about her when it comes to that.

Now THAT was the reason why the character of Alara was written out? That’s pity. I liked her a lot and was hoping for a return. Her following character couldn’t fill her shoes, although she is very likeable.

Gene had an affair With Nichols before his affair with Majel and both were on his show…you point?

Your loss really. Admittedly, season 1 was a bit rocky, but things improved greatly in season 2. Season 3 on the other hand has been phenomenal, which is why I hope this is not the end (as the episode is billed as a “season” finale, not a “series” finale…)

It’s neither a rip off, or a parody anymore, though it may have started off as an homage to TNG.

I still rate season 1 very high. It had some stand out episodes which you didn’t have in the 1st season of 90s Trek.

My only complaint is about season 2, where they put what really felt like the finale right in the middle of the season and then wrapped things up with a time travel story that feels like it went nowhere.

Just reorder the second half of season 2 so it ends with the Kaylon storyline and everything falls into place.

I stopped comparing Orville to TNG from the start, as I stopped comparing TNG to TOS and Disco to everything else… it just goes on and on! Whilst Orville may be a hybrid Star Trek it was created by a Star Trek fan in MacFarlane who has surrounded himself with some pretty impressive Star Trek veterans like Braga and Goodman. It’s not Star Trek it’s The Orville.

I saw a review for a new movie ‘Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris’ yesterday, It has a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A reviewer says ‘If viewers get stuck on the “this would never happen in real life” notion, they will miss the point of this charming tale’. That’s what I see here in comments so often,.

If you fixate on your expectation of what the TV shows should be, you never allow yourself to experience the joy that others like me see in shows like The Orville. Don’t get me wrong, there are things in The Orville that make me cringe sometimes but if I wanted to, I could find just as much wrong in Star Trek episodes. I hope Seth gets a season 4 and more.

PS. Mrs Harris – good movie!

I do agree with you, and encourage others still too critical or hesitant to even check out the show, to consider your take on it, maybe sit back, relax, and allow themselves to enjoy the ride.

The show is everything I wanted New Trek to be, and it actually allows me to enjoy New Trek for what it has become, because The Orville has been satisfyingly filling that particular void for me (and I hope that it will continue to do so for years to come)! 🤞😌

I hope it’ll return some day but I’m more concerned about the move to D+, which means that there will probably never any DVD or BD releases of S3, let alone a BD release for the entire show. I hate Disney for not putting out any collectible media. It makes no sense. That’s the primary objective for me as a collector. Streaming can replace standard TV, rental stores or even cinema, but it’ll never replace a BD on a shelve or in a treasure box.

They spend a lot on a few Marvel and Star Wars shows, but the big draw is their library and exclusivity. By depriving the collector-types of the chance to outright own the newer shows, they are sacrificing short term profit on the assumption we won’t cancel our subscriptions and lose access to the library. As we sample more shows and view the service as indispensable, then they can start jacking up the price.

If that works for just a handful of years, then they’ve made more out of you than if you’d just bought a couple blu ray box sets.

That’s nonsense because fans would keep their subscription for the new shows / seasons anyway as long as they remain fans.

However, I can imagine giving up on Marvel or Star Wars altogether if I cannot actually own it on the long run, which means I will also cancel my subscription.

So Disney’s choice with me is: either keep my as a subscriber AND a BD buyer AND a merchandise collector AND a stock holder.

OR

Lose me as a subscriber, buyer, fan and stock owner.

It’s as simple as that. I give them FIVE YEARS to change their policy or I’ll be gone. 2027… the clock is ticking!

“on the assumption we won’t cancel our subscriptions and lose access to the library.”

That assumption is wrong. If I cannot own it I also don’t want to access it anymore, because rewatching it would just remind me of not being able to own it. All the anger and hatred building up within me when thinking of that…

Gosh, I’m so grateful Paramount still gives us those BDs…

K. That’s not how most people seem to operate nowadays. Physical media is dying and the public is content to perpetually rent the shows and films that are tied exclusively to streamers. Disney+ in particular is part of people’s monthly budgets so they always have easy access to the films and shows they loved as kids and their kids do as well. New material reinforces that and tying them to streaming-only encourages habitual resubscribing.

Disney needs to see this series driving eyes and new subscriptions to D+ to consider picking it up for another season. The couple of episodes I caught on Fox were two hours of my life I’ll never get back, and reading these reviews, I’ve seen nothing driving me to subscribe to yet another streaming service. So, for those wanting more, throw some money at Disney, and watch often. Congratulations to the production for a three year run, and enjoy the series finale.

When it was on Fox it was not the greatest. However, since it moved to Hulu for this season I have enjoyed it immensely. The writing was better, effects and the production values just seemed better. The acting was still a bit stiff in spots but not distractedly so. IMO it’s a 7/10.

I hope it gets a 4th and 5th and so on. I love this show. It has become it’s own.

It’s not

nearly as crappy as Discovery, that’s true.

(okay, I pulled this joke elsewhere, I’ll stop)

God this show is awful

It’s not

Yeah? Well, you know, that’s just like uh, your opinion, man.

At least now you know how it feels when you said the same to other Trek shows.

???

Not that it particularly matters, but when have I disparaged Trek shows in the same way? I’ve certainly criticized some of them, but that’s different than straight up declaring a show awful.

It’s usually good fun if you ask me.

…ly good. I agree!

I really hope it goes another season, it has everything I love about Star Trek in it with a rich, new unexplored universe.

The storytelling this season has really been quite exemplary. It’s been a great ride.

The show really has come into its own this season and I very much hope it is renewed for many more seasons to come. Perhaps surprisingly, my biggest complaint about this season is that most of the humor is gone. The Orville still doesn’t take itself quite as seriously as Trek (which isn’t a bad thing!), but I really do miss some of the more outright humorous moments found in previous seasons.

I agree. I really hope for 7 seasons and a movie! This show deserves it!

I’ve seen Season One and while I’ve enjoyed it- I’ve had a real issue with the treatment of its female characters. Alara is constantly judged by the male characters for having high standards when it comes to dating, Ed constantly slut shames Kelly for sleeping with Darulio and Claire is frequently sexually harrassed by Yapphit thanks to his unwanted advances.

I guess my question is does the show ever address it’s treatment of women or does it move away from sexism and misogyny?

What Ed was displaying is called jealousy and has been around since at least the trilobite. This doesn’t make it admirable, but we don’t need to deploy jargon to describe one of the oldest emotions.

This is a really gross take, Temporal Orel and minimises what Ed actually did. Ed actively encourages the crew, especially Gordon, to shame Kelly. He goes out of his to tell people outside of The Orville that Kelly cheated on him. It’s gone beyond mere jealousy at that point. He is literally shaming her for being promiscuous.

Too say anything other that this is slut shaming says a lot about you and your views.

Like a lot of things on this show, they eventually came back around to that in later episodes. It’s only so black & white when you don’t take in the whole context.

You of all people should think twice about immediately leaping to conclusions. He didn’t personally attack you, he made an argument about how the show handled this issue and questioned if your reaction was overkill. You took that as cause to escalate and cast aspersions on the poster’s character. How was that called for? You do this all the time, it gets in the way of having productive conversations.

I agree with you that season 1 handled the female characters poorly, and it’s understandable if anyone gives Seth MacFarlane side-eye for how he’s written for women and even who he dates, but this is not how to discuss the issue.

First off, the show does not pretend its characters are perfect (like some of the more subpar Trek shows appear to attempt to do all too often; nowadays with an overflowing helping of pathos), which makes the characters on The Orville more real to me, and grounds the show better.

Second, if you continued to watch, you would’ve seen that Ed ends up sleeping with Darulio as well in the episode “Cupid’s Dagger,” and both Kelly’s and his own agency in all those actions are being questioned and left wide open by the end of the episode.

If anything, I’d say the show caters more to poor male stereotypes than that it disparages females. But it’s got redeeming scenes galore, and thought-provoking qualities in all departments, ESPECIALLY when it comes to questions of gender bias and equality.

“Slut shaming” about “promiscuity” isn’t what Ed was doing. Kelly broke a monogamous, committed relationship. Ed’s issue isn’t her sexual tastes so much as that she expressed them in a hitherto unexpected manner that violated the basis for their marriage.

I have no desire to excuse Ed’s conduct (feelings are justifiable and understandable, actions are not — with extra credit shittiness for sharing a workspace, having power over her in a direct chain of command, and being a “leader”), but let’s at least identify what’s he’s doing with accuracy.

Though the bigger problem is that apparently there’s an entire species just wandering around the galaxy who are using chemical mind control to rape people and thinking nothing about it. Which, yikes.

Yes, and yes. Season 1 is poor example of what the series has become. Season 2 moves away from most of the issues you mentioned (although I think Yaphit still takes a few swings at Claire in S2). Misogyny, in my opinion, really isn’t that big of an issue in the show, but even the issues you address don’t really factor in to the next 2 seasons – especially by season 3.

I’ve enjoyed The Orville from start to finish, but comparing season 1 to season 2 and the episodes released for New Horizon so far is kind of like comparing the first 3 seasons of TNG to the last 4 seasons. It really does get better (at least in my opinion), and in some ways it’s a whole different show then where it began.

Seth literally slept with Alara’s actress. You think the treatment of women will improve when he is the showrunner who sets the standards?

I knew that he dated Halston Sage for a while and then she jumped ship when they broke up- which is another warning sign for me.

From what Halston Sage has said in recent interviews this was a quote about her leaving; It wasn’t about a choice. It was what was best for the show at the time.”

So? What’s the problem there? They’re two adults. The Actors playing Gordon and Kelly also had a relationship, even got married. It tends to happen, when you work very closely with someone.

Yes, this is why I had to give up on this show. The way the women characters are portrayed coupled with Seth’s extremely questionable dating habits is such a turn-off. Everything about how they are written just rubs me the wrong way. Also, I have to laugh every time they show these “look at us tough gals” shots and it’s the 3 main women who all weigh about 105 pounds soaking wet. Not that believable I have to say….

I love this show, but the previews they throw together are always strangely shoddy.

Anyway, it’s interesting to see the season/series end on this note as opposed to the previous episode. You would think they would have switched these episodes around, but perhaps there is a big surprise or cliffhanger in the works with this one. But this does feel like a return to form for the show, back to its comedic roots and perhaps that’s how they would prefer to end it.

I do think this is most likely the final episode of the show, online engagement points to fairly low viewership, but you never know what will happen on Disney +. I do feel like they’ve had a great final season however and I’d be satisfied if this was the conclusion. Hoping this has legs like TOS reruns once did, but I know that’s probably unlikely.

Ugh. Please stop running these Orville stories — it is not Star Trek! Do you cover Stargate news? They certainly ripped off Star Trek on a weekly basis. Do you cover Galaxy Quest news? It was a Star Trek parody like the Orville was when it first aired. The Orville is not Star Trek and should be covered elsewhere. And now that they are on Disney+ alongside Star Wars only further demonstrates its ‘non-Star Trek-ness’. Please. Just stop.

It sounds like many of us who visit this site enjoy the Orville news, and the show itself. If you don’t, then feel free to pass on these articles. It’s just that simple. LLAP

By that reasoning TrekMovie should be covering the Marvel Universe because a lot of readers enjoy those shows, too. The site is called TrekMovie and it says it right there in the masthead: “The source for everything new in Trek”. Why not cover all the Seth MacFarlane shows like Family Guy or American Dad — hell, American Dad features Patrick Stewart and has for years! You see the can of worms here? Family Guy hardly espouses Star Trek’s values but its from that guy who does The Orville.

delete

I wonder if this will be a fast paced episode like the last one.
The last episode just felt like a climax of the season which tied most plots together.
The preview looks more like a possible series finale and an epilogue like the end of the DS9 finale which VOY missed. Just like “We are done. What’s next?”
But the show doesn’t feel like it has finished after only 3 short seasons.

This definitely felt like a farewell episode, and if this is it and then I’m glad they did it this way. The episode isn’t very noteworthy, but it does use the cast well. It’s just great to spend time with the characters and they got back to their more light-hearted interpersonal stories. I still struggle to make sense of the Isaac/Dr. Finn relationship, but they managed to convince me in this episode.

The major problem for me in this episode is that I simply didn’t remember the episode “Majority Rule” or the character of Lysella from season 1. The entire subplot felt shoe-horned into this episode, as if to tie up a loose end.

In either case, I’m pretty convinced “The Orville” has concluded its run, but I strangely feel satisfied by the season and they’ve told their story to its natural conclusion. They did a great job wrapping this series up.

“Previously on The Orville…” would be really helpful for this show. It’s been so long since season 1, and frankly I didn’t remember the “Kelly is a god” episode all that well either.

Same, but then again those recaps tend to spoil what’s coming in the episode, just like the opening credits for SNW spoiled that Paul Wesley (playing Kirk) was showing up in the season finale before he actually appeared.

I love this show. I hope it will not end after season 3. they have there momentum now and it keeps getting better and better.

Season finale a bit of an extended yawnfest IMO. Nice Ed/Kelly moment at the end.

Here’s how I would end the show.

The last scene of the crew sitting on the Bridge, with a sense of optimism, as the camera shot pans out to show the Orville in the front. The camera careens to the side, and then to the rear of the ship, before the ship takes off into the unknown…

Cut to a teenager who suspiciously looks like a young Captain Mercer, as he pins the final touch of his story.

“THE END,” says the teenager says, as closes his book of stories. He looks up, where we, the audience, sees that teenager is on a space station, a shipyard, where the first of a new class of FTL vessels are being made, based on Quantum Slip Streaming, circa early 25th century. He smiles, and then proclaims that someday, he’s going to be the captain of one those ships.

And then, he leaves his room, after being called to dinner by his father, leaving the book behind on his desk, while we, the audience, are left wondering if the story of the Orville is just a story, or a tale of things to come, especially when after we see a mysterious hand touches the book while we, the audience, hear Q’s voice, proclaiming, “a tale best told for another day, for the future”.

And that’s how I would fold this show into the STAR TREK franchise, but only if Seth MacFarlane remains the creative force behind it.

I’d say the Orville has already become the adopted child of Star Trek. 😉

Is there still a review coming? It feels like the show alrrady has been wrapped up…

I am wondering the same thing… 🤔💭

Got a free month of Hulu and started watching ORV last night (Hulu has got some damned good movies right now too, fairly obscure ones.) Was very disappointed by both episodes, each of which should have been cut nearly in half, there was just so much fat on them, and an increase (even over last year) of unnecessary and largely unconvincing VFX. Hope it gets better soon, and that Bortus gets something to do. Seth’s flat ‘serious’ mode is almost like Shatner in the TOS movies — but absolutely minus the charm, making him a debbiedowner of the first magnitude now.

Which movies have grabbed your attention? I found that Amazon has lots of interesting obscure films but their interface is so messy I find myself aware of how much time I waste browsing.

Bortus gets what to do. And he has probably the funniest (painful, but funny) moment at the very end of the season. A lot of the cast had big moments this year.

Domino should have been the finale. It was a strong and emotional episode and by far the strongest of the season. They could have went out with a bang but instead, they went out with a whimper. This whole episode seemed long-winded and without substance other than a couple of scenes. I found it weird that they don’t even mention Charly, someone who sacrificed her life and was a close member of the crew. The whole episode seemed to be unbalanced to me. I understand that they wanted to give closure to the Isaac and Doctor romance, but they took a long time getting there. Most of the humor came off flat. Scott Grimes continues to shine in every scene he is in.