Fox has given a 13-epsiode straight to series order an untitled sci-fi dramedy series from Seth MacFarlane. The “Family Guy” creator is set to star in and exec produce the series, which is scheduled to debut in the 2017-18 season.
Production on the pilot for the series, produced by 20th Century Fox TV, will begin in late 2016. MacFarlane has had a longstanding first-look deal with the studio, which, like Fox Broadcasting, is headed by Fox Television Group CEOs Gary Newman and Dana Walden.
The show, set 300 years in the future, will tell the story of the Orville, a not-so-top-of-the-line exploratory ship in Earth’s interstellar fleet.
“I’ve wanted to do something like this show ever since I was a kid, and the timing finally feels right,” said MacFarlane. “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.”
“For almost two decades, we’ve enjoyed an incredible collaboration with our partner and friend Seth MacFarlane,” said Newman and Walden. “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.”
In addition to “Family Guy,” MacFarlane is the executive producer of Fox’s “Bordertown” and the network’s documentary series “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.” He also exec produces TBS’ “American Dad” Starz’s “Blunt Talk.”
