Seth MacFarlane to create and star in new sci-fi/dramedy series from Fox

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

That Seth MacFarlane is one busy dude, in addition to voicing multiple characters on both Family Guy and American Dad, MacFarlane has written/directed/starred in films like TED and A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST as well as hosting awards shows and releasing albums. Deadline reports that MacFarlane will be adding one more project to his slate, a live-action sci-fi/dramedy series being set up at Fox. Seth MacFarlane will be developing the series, which has been given a thirteen-episode order, as well as starring in it.

The as-yet-untitled hour long series will be "set 300 years in the future, the show follows the adventures of the Orville, a not-so-top-of-the-line exploratory ship in Earth’s interstellar Fleet. Facing cosmic challenges from without and within, this motley crew of space explorers will boldly go where no comedic drama has gone before." Anyone who has watched any of Seth MacFarlane's work knows that he's a big fan of space, he even appeared in several episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise and resurrected Carl Sagan's Cosmos series for Neil deGrasse Tyson.

I’ve wanted to do something like this show ever since I was a kid, and the timing finally feels right. 20th and Fox have been good to me for many years, and of course, Dana and Gary have been fantastic bosses and true pals, so it was a no-brainer to come to them with the project. I think this is gonna be something special.

Chairmen and CEO's of Fox Television group Dana Walden and Gary Newman said:

For almost two decades, we’ve enjoyed an incredible collaboration with our partner and friend Seth MacFarlane. He’s one of the smartest, funniest and most talented people we’ve ever had the pleasure of working with – a great guy who’s also had such an impact on both television and popular culture. Seth has one of the most original voices – in every sense of the word – and we’ve been waiting for him to bring us a project as special as this one. It’s classic Seth – fresh and funny, incredibly smart, wickedly subversive and undeniably Fox.

Although not everything he touches turns to gold, I've enjoyed enough of what Seth MacFarlane has done over his career to at least check this out. The new series is set to debut during the 2017-2018 television season and a pilot episode will likely be filmed late this year.