The Orville's Seth MacFarlane On Star Trek's New Direction

08/20/2017 05:07 pm EDT

This fall, both Star Trek: Discovery and The Orville will bring Star Trek-inspired storytelling back to the small screen. But according to The Orville's creator and star, Seth MacFarlane, his show reflects one element that much of current sci-fi - including recent Star Trek properties - does not.

"I miss the optimism." MacFarlane revealed at The Orville's TCA panel. "I'm tired of being told that everything is going to be grim and dystopian, people are going to be murdering each other for food. I've had enough of that. I miss the hopeful side of science fiction. That kind of goes back to the roots of the genre. What can we achieve if we put our minds to it? That flourished in the '90s. Some shows did it in a more cheesy fashion, and others like Star Trek made it a little more legit, but that was the way to do a sci-fi show back then."

With several Trek alums - including Brannon Braga - involved with The Orville, it appears that the Fox dramedy is making a point to evoke that classic sci-fi optimism. And according to MacFarlane, that space in the current pop culture landscape has been waiting to be occupied.

"I miss that flavor of science fiction. It's a space that's waiting to be filled in this day and age when we're getting a lot of dystopian science fiction which is great. It can't all be The Hunger Games, a nightmare scenario."

One could argue that both The Orville and Star Trek: Discovery have a desire to occupy that space, with the latter series going above and beyond to honor its canon predecessors. Fans will just have to wait and see how the pair of shows stack up against each other - and in the larger sci-fi canon - this September.

From Emmy Award-winning executive producer and creator Seth MacFarlane (FAMILY GUY, "Ted," "Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey"), THE ORVILLE is a live-action, one-hour space adventure series set 400 years in the future that follows The Orville, a mid-level exploratory spaceship. Its crew, both human and alien, face the wonders and dangers of outer space, while also dealing with the familiar, often humorous problems of everyday life.

The Orville will premiere Sunday, Sept. 10 on Fox.

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