In the world of sci-fi television, few shows are like doesn’t. The best thing The Orville has going for it now is its own inherent Orville-ness, a show that can somehow exist outside of the shadow of Star Trek despite fashioning itself as a Star Trek show. Its audience is tricky to predict; does the show still offer enough to attract a bunch of Trek fans as the series apparently moves into Season 4?
Dropping Season 3 on Disney+ surely helped viewership, and if Grimes is speaking the truth, this could mean another big season for The Orville in a year or two. But until something comes straight from MacFarlane, Season 4 is still a hope, not a fact. Let’s also hope it still has an audience amid the modern Trek landscape.