10 Reasons Hulu Needs to Renew The Orville: New Horizons

Since The Orville has yet to be renewed, the final episode of the current season was titled "Future Unknown". We were already fans of the show, but the third season proved to be better than the first two. We want to see a fourth season.

If you haven't caught up on the third season, here's one.

At the start of season three, we met a new character named Charly Burke, who was a survivor of the second season of the show. Charly wasgrudgingly accepted the Orville's Kaylon crew member. In the last episode of the third season, Charly sacrificed herself to destroy a weapon that could have been used to wipe out all Kaylons. Charly's death felt earned, rather than a mere plot device, and we did feel sorry to see the most prominent lesbian character in The Orville sign off forever. There's a chance for more diversity and representation in the fourth season. Not one of the show's main stars is safe on the show.

The Orville has always shown us new worlds and outer-space action, but season three really leveled up on its technical aspects, and the way they made alien characters and settings integrated with the show's more organic elements.

The writers got props. In The Orville season one, Topa was born and hatched to Klyden and Bortus. Their home planet is almost entirely male and women are seen as inferior. In the third season of The Orville, as a young teen, Topa realized she wasn't living life as her true self and returned to being female. The decision has huge political ramifications, as well as personal ones for Topa and her family and friends, and The Orville manages to handle particularly the latter with surprising sensitivity.

I didn't realize it until I looked back at the entire season, but The Orville has scaled back on its comedy. The characters like J. Lee and John LaMarr can always be counted on for a joke. Several Orville crew members were trapped in a simulation of an American high school in the show's more absurd storyline. Bortus told a mean girl that she has a five-head.

Teleya could have been portrayed as a one-note villain. In previous seasons, she befriended Captain Ed Mercer and Gordon when they went undercover, and in her own disguise, she had a fling with Ed. The fact that she and Ed have a secret daughter together definitely has season four plot fodder written all over it.

This season, we got a glimpse at a Planetary Union meeting showcasing members from across the universe, suggesting how many more worlds there are for The Orville to visit.

The real Dolly Parton played a Dolly Parton simulation. She might have offered advice. It's absolutely true. She may have sung a song about it. She did.

Without Star Trek, Orville wouldn't be the same. The Orville has managed to differentiate itself from the sci-fi giant that preceded it. MacFarlane told io9 at the beginning of season three that the genre that emerged in the 1930s was similar to sailing ships. It was something that happened a long time ago. Star Trek was the first to take it and turn it into a serious form of story telling. Right now sci-fi is very dark. It is very out of place. In a lot of ways, it is very sad. It's very cautious. We haven't seen that part of that genre in a while. There was an open pocket for us to slip into when we began. What we bring to the table in tone, in structure, in scope, is in a class of its own.

Penny Johnson Jerald is a veteran of the Star Trek franchise, but she plays a different kind of character on The Orville. In season three, Dr. Finn dealt with her kids, her ex- husband, and her complicated feelings towards a robot who had no feelings for her. She is getting her own spot on this list because she is my favorite character. There's more of Claire! We want more concierge services.