NEW YORK — New York Comic-Con 2019 ended on a high note, quite literally, as the cast of "The Orville" gathered to give their fans an entertaining panel. The appearance concluded with the talented Scott Grimes (who plays Lt. Gordon Malloy) serenading Mark Jackson (who plays Isaac) with the song "Goodbye" by Air Supply.
Joining Grimes and Jackson were Adrianne Palicki (Cmdr. Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Peter Macon (Lt. Cmdr. Bortus), J. Lee (Lt. Cmdr. John LaMarr), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Jessica Szohr (Lt. Talla Keyali), and executive producers Jon Cassar and David A. Goodman. Sadly, the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, couldn't attend, but principal photography of Season 3 starts this month, so he's probably pretty busy.
An audience member asked the panel if fans might get to see a musical episode in Season 3. Several TV shows have gone down this path, airing one-off musical episodes, as happened in "Oz," "Xena: Warrior Princess" and, of course, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Plus, several members of the "Orville" cast are extremely talented singers, including Grimes and MacFarlane.
The answer from Grimes was, at first, univocal: "Absolutely not." However, he paused and added, "But if we did ..." This sent the crowd of faithful fans gathered in the main hall at the Javits Center into a frenzy.
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Playful banter between Grimes and Jerald followed as Grimes laid out an idea for a musical episode — an idea that Jerald claimed Grimes had stolen from her. Regardless of who originated the idea, it sounds like it would be a lot of fun: The crew land on a planet where they can emote only through song, and so they have to express themselves via musical numbers.
Macon added to the idea by shouting, "Puppets!" These, too, have been used to great effect in a sequence of the truly brilliant episode of "Stargate SG1," titled "200," which celebrated the 200th episode of the show.
Cassar gave some details about what we can expect from Season 3, saying that it will be 11 episodes long.
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"All I can tell you is that after last year's [episode] 'Identity' — [Parts] 1 and 2 — which I'm sure you've all seen, is that Seth wants to make all this year all like that. So, I'm telling you right now, that it's double the production schedule that we had before, and it's going to be huge."
The premiere episode, "Ja'loja" was arguably the best of the second season and the thrilling two-parter "Identity" gave us one of the best space battles ever seen on the small screen.
Goodman, who moderated the panel, added, "Being on Hulu, being on a streaming service like that gives us a little more freedom — maybe too much! But it's going to be quite a season. You're going to have to take my word for it."
Principal photography has just started on Season 3 and the first episode will air sometime in 2020 on Hulu.
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