The Orville came at a time when Star Trek wasn’t the big and all-encompassing thing it is right now. In fact, it came out right at the time of Star Trek Discovery. The two shows had a different approach to “old school Star Trek”, but each found their own audience and have had great success. The catch with Orville though was that their third season had both quite a long delay, and a new home on Hulu (it was originally on Fox, home to many other shows by the series creator, Seth MacFarlane).
When The Orville did return to screens via Hulu, it had a subtitle in New Horizons, and many were curious about that, so…the creator gave the reason why:
“Adding a subtitle was actually Dana Walden’s idea,” MacFarlane said. Walden is the Chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content. “And I thought it was a really good one. That’s my boss over at Disney who I’ve worked with and been friends with for a long time. That was her idea. And I thought it was kind of cool because it’s not a reboot, it’s a continuation, but it was just enough to tell the audience that we’re expanding a little bit. That the scope is bigger. The show is more ambitious. It’s going to feel more like a movie. It’s maybe going to feel a little more special. And it seemed appropriate also because it’s been a few years since we’ve been on the air and we’ve moved to Hulu and it’s a 10-episode run as opposed to, a 13-episode run. I guess it’s not that big a difference. It seemed like it was an idea that was pitched to me that I like.”
So far, the new season has been overwhelmingly praised, with a recent episode being praised as a “masterpiece” of storytelling.
Source: Collider