It was big news to hear that Hulu picked up The Orville for a third season after Fox’s surprise cancelation, but thanks to Dark Horse Comics, that’s not the only place that the adventure will continue. News has just arrived that The Orville will be returning with a season 2.5 through a new comic book miniseries titled The Orville Season 2.5: Launch Day.
Influenced heavily by Star Trek and other space exploration sci-fi tales, The Orville serves as both a parody and homage to those before it. Created by and starring Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, the show launched in 2017 with mixed critical reception, however a cult fandom quickly grew. While the show is definitely a comedy, the amount of social commentary and dramatic moments make it feel much more like it is meant to serve as an upbeat, light-hearted Star Trek tribute rather than to poke fun at it, which comes at much surprise to some as Seth MacFarlane is known for absurd humor centered around mockery. With heavy political and social undertones, the show quickly became a smash hit amongst sci-fi fans and comedy lovers alike, giving a platform to explore deep issues in a futuristic setting fans have come to love, all while not taking itself too seriously. Despite its popularity with heavily dedicated and passionate fans, Fox pulled the plug on the series even after already renewing it for a third season. Luckily, the public outcry was heard, and Hulu saved the show. Although the specific date is still not known, the third season will be airing exclusively on Hulu sometime later this year, but thankfully, this new comic mini-series will help hold fans over.
This actually isn’t the first time the crew of the USS Orville has graced the comic shelves, as a set of comics were released in a similar fashion back in 2019 titled The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings. Serving as a season 1.5 with two “episodes” that took place between seasons one and two, the comics provided fans a deeper look into Planetary Union and the 25th-century. Much like the previous comic run, the new series will fill in the gaps between the past seasons, this time between seasons 2 and 3. After much success on the first series, Executive Producer David A. Goodman (Futurama, Star Trek: Enterprise), artist David Cabeza (The Orville), and colorist Michael Atiyeh (Halo: Escalation, Tomb Raider) are all coming together once again to bring the hilarious misadventures of The Orville back to the comic page. Being based off the show, the storylines of the comic series are split between “episodes,” each taking place over a few different issues.
The Orville #1: Launch Day Part 1 (of two) kicks off the first “episode” of the series with a Krill ship entering Union territory. The Orville is sent to head off the ship in order to investigate further, and in doing so, they learn that the Krill are headed to a planet that, under strange circumstances, seceded from the Union a long time ago. It turns out that the Krill have discovered a large, moon-sized construct above the planet, and that they intend to attack it before this what-they-assume-to-be weapon can be used against them, but the question remains, what really is it? While this may be all the info currently provided by Dark Horse Comics, the description does sound a bit like it holds some Death Star influences when talking about a moon-sized mystery construct in space that is a potential weapon. It will be interesting to see how the crew handles the matter as the planet is technically out of their jurisdiction, but does hold possible consequences for the entire galaxy.
The Orville #1: Launch Day #1 goes on sale June 3, 2020 and is available now for pre-order at your local comic shop.
