How Seth MacFarlane Really Feels About The Orville's First Season
If you've binged yourself silly on reruns of the various "Star Trek" franchises and are hungry for some new interstellar sci-fi goodness, you might want to check out a little diddy of a show on Hulu called "The Orville." It stars Seth MacFarlane as Captain Ed Mercer, alongside other brilliant actors like Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, J. Lee, and Mark Jackson as your friendly neighborhood android who only temporarily wanted to exterminate all of humanity. And if you have a keen eye, you can spot some special guest appearances by TV legends like Jason Alexander, Patrick Warburton, and the original "Candyman" Tony Todd.
But MacFarlane doesn't just star in the show. He's also the creator, head writer, and part-time director, too. He recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to answer some pretty thorough questions about where the show has been, where it's going, and what fans might be in store for if MacFarlane and company are lucky enough to get a Season 4. One big topic that was discussed centered on how MacFarlane felt about the show's first season — and diehard fans might be surprised by his humble response.
MacFarlane admits he would go back and fine-tune some things if he could
For any artist — especially writers — you're never really done honing the craft. There's always something you wish you could go back and tweak and do better, even with a "finished" work. MacFarlane expressed this existential artist's angst in the Hollywood Reporter interview, admitting that the first season of "The Orville" is definitely something he wishes he could revise. He stated that "there are things that we perhaps did not handle as expertly as we could" but that it's all "part of the learning process — certainly with any show, you find your footing."
Many of his regrets have to do with the trans rights issues that surrounded the Moclan characters Bortus, Klyden, and their child, Topa. The Moclan race was introduced as an all-male warrior culture, but the audience soon found out that there are female Moclans, all of whom receive mandated sexual reassignment surgery at birth. When Bortus and Klyden's egg hatched — and they found out that their child is female — it causes a huge controversy.
MacFarlane may still be beating himself up over it, but he also admits he's "been really gratified by the reaction from the fans." He really shouldn't be so hard on himself, though. The IMDb user reviews alone are full of effusive praise for the episode, which received 7.7/10 stars from those same fans. Is the showrunner suffering from a bit of impostor syndrome? Perhaps.