Seth MacFarlane’s next TV series promises to be out of this world

FOX has announced that the 13-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee, two-time Emmy winner, and one-time Academy Award nominee is developing a science-fiction comedy that he will write, star in, and executive produce for the network. The series is expected to debut during the 2017-2018 television season.

The project was announced by Dana Walden and Gary Newman, the joint Chairmen and CEOs of Fox Television Group, with the network ordering 13 hour-long episodes of the still-untitled series.

Set 300 years in the future, the show will follow the crew of the Orville, a ship in Earth’s interstellar fleet tasked with exploring the outer reaches of space. It’s uncertain what role MacFarlane will play in the series.

“I’ve wanted to do something like this show ever since I was a kid, and the timing finally feels right,” said MacFarlane in a statement accompanying the announcement. “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 going to be something special.”

Although MacFarlane has had most of his success writing, producing, and providing the voices for various animated and live-action projects (including an Oscar nomination for the song “Everybody Needs a Friend” from Ted 2), he has also appeared in front of the camera, too. He starred in the 2014 comedy A Million Ways To Die In the West, which he also co-wrote and directed.

“For almost two decades, we’ve enjoyed an incredible collaboration with our partner and friend Seth MacFarlane,” added Newman and Walden in the announcement of the project. “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.”