The Orville cast is no longer under contract for the series

The Orville season three is set to debut in June on Hulu.

Fans have been waiting for the return of the Seth MacFarlane-led sci-fi series, The Orville, (now known as The Orville: New Horizons), since season two ended three years ago. With only a little over six weeks to go until the season premiere, Deadline reports that the entire cast of the series have been released from their contracts which leaves a big question mark hanging over the possibility of a season four.

In addition, MacFarlane is moving forward with another streaming project for Peacock which will reunite him with his The Orville star, Scott Grimes. Though this doesn’t definitively mean the end of The Orville as it’s a shorter-run series that opens the doors for actors to join other projects, the fact that the actors haven’t been offered new contracts in anticipation of a fourth season is cause for concern for fans of the sci-fi series.

The Orville had two strong first seasons.

The series gained a lot of Star Trek fans for its similarity to that franchise brought on by Seth MacFarlane who is a long-time Trekkie. The first two seasons were action-packed with emotionally-charged episodes and real character growth. There was some silliness and even moments that some might call cheesy, but overall, the series came out of the starting gate strong, even being nomimated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Visual Effects.

And, according to Chad Coleman, who portrays Klyden on the series, the third season is going to be bigger and better than any of the other two seasons. With so much effort having gone into a stellar third season and the promise that it will be “jaw-dropping” and “epic,” it could be that the cast suspected the series would be wrapping up and wanted to go out with a bang.

Nothing has been set in stone in regards to a fourth season, and perhaps the series will be renewed if this season garners a higher view count than the previous seasons. Unfortunately, we’re in another wait and see mode, and the answer will, most likely, be a long time coming.