The trailer for season three of the Orville is surprisingly tame and hopeful

The season three trailer of The Orville saw a toned-down sense of humor but a Star Trek-level of hopefulness.

The Orville dropped a  new trailer for fans this week, hyping up the arrival of the third’s third season and first on Hulu. The show has been in development hell for months, if not years at this point, being one of the biggest shows affected by Covid-19, and then being delayed several more months. Yet, with all the upheaval the show has faced, including the loss of their soundstage (allegedly), the show persisted and is finally here.

The show’s trailer had its trademark charm but one thing that wasn’t there was the more over-the-top sense of humor. This may be for the better, but the show has earned a loyal fanbase and it’s in part due to the, at times, outlandish jokes.

Those jokes were admittedly toned down in season two, and it looks like they’ll be further toned down in season three.

The sense of wonder that the show brought in the first two seasons, does seem to be back in full display. That’s going to be the selling point, as fans of Star Trek who felt that the Nu Trek didn’t cater to them, glommed onto The Orville due to that sense of wonder. It felt like Star Trek, at least the Star Trek of the Rick Berman era.

That’s what The Orville felt like, Berman’s era of Star Trek back, but with a more robust sense of humor. Fans loved it. All that seems to be coming back but it may be the last season of a great show.

The Orville: New Horizons hasn’t been canceled yet and fans need to show up to ensure it isn’t

The third season of The Orville may be its swan song but no official or unofficial word has been revealed just yet. That means there is hope. The soundstage they shot on may have been sold (allegedly), but that doesn’t mean the show is dead. If Hulu decrees it a hit, they’ll absolutely keep the show going.

It’s cheaper to keep a show going than to greenlight a new one. So there is a reason to hope for a fourth season. The show has to do well though and I mean very well. It has to be near the top of Hulu’s standings for each episode released.

If it’s just a middle-of-the-pack show, then it’s unlikely that Hulu would invest the money needed to keep the show going. That doesn’t mean someone else won’t try to pick them up for a fourth season, but as of right now the best hope for a season four is on Hulu.