FOX's "Untitled Seth MacFarlane Project" (Series Premiere Spring 2017)

[Akijama]

Seth MacFarlane To Create & Star In Fox Sci-Fi Dramedy Series For 2017-18 Season

EXCLUSIVE: Seth MacFarlane is set to topline his first live-action TV series. Fox has given a 13-episode straight-to-series order to an hour-long, live-action comedic drama series created and executive produced by the Family Guy creator, who is also set to star. The series is slated for the 2017-2018 television season, with a pilot episode likely filmed in late 2016, and the rest of the episodes in spring 2017. 20th Century Fox TV, where MacFarlane has been under an overall deal for a long time, is the studio.

The untitled series originated as a hot spec, written by MacFarlane. It was quickly snatched by Fox, which, along with 20th TV, is overseen by Dana Walden and Gary Newman, long-time supporters of MacFarlane in their previous role running the studio. Set 300 years in the future, the show follows the adventures of the Orville, a not-so-top-of-the-line exploratory ship in Earth’s interstellar Fleet. Facing cosmic challenges from without and within, this motley crew of space explorers will boldly go where no comedic drama has gone before.

“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.”