What Time Does 'The Orville' Season 2 Premiere Air Tonight?

12/30/2018 05:08 pm EST

The Orville returns for its second season tonight on FOX.

If you're wondering, yes, it is unusual for The Orville to air on Sunday night. This is a special premiere event. Just like the first season of The Orville, the new season of The Orville will premiere following NFL Sunday Night Football on FOX before moving to its usual Thursday night time slot later this week.

So what time, exactly, is "following NFL Sunday Night Football"? Unfortunately, that roughly means "whenever the game is done." FOX's schedule estimates The Orville will start airing at 8 p.m. ET, but fans may find themselves waiting a bit longer of the NFL game runs long.

FOX already released a trailer for the new season of The Orville, as well as a sneak preview, and revealed a synopsis teasing upcoming storylines:

"In Season Two, ED (MacFarlane) and KELLY's (Adrianne Palicki) relationship will take a new turn, while the ship's crew will meet never-before-seen aliens, face old adversaries the Krill, make first contact with a new civilization and revisit the planet Moclus."

The Orville Season Two will add Jessica Szohr as a new series regular and Chris Johnson in a recurring role. Multiple Star Trek actors are also expected to guest star.

Star Trek: The Next Generation star and director Jonathan Frakes will also contribute to the new season of The Orville. At a convention, Frakes spoke about the series in comparison to CBS All Access's Star Trek: Discovery.

"The Star Trek that we have has really found its voice, and Discovery has really found its voice," Frakes explained earlier this year. "And The Orville has filled in a void. For a lot of people, The Orville is their new Star Trek because it does tell stories like [The Next Generation], and it's got wild humor in it.

"[Seth MacFarlane] clearly wanted [The Orville] to look like [The Next Generation]." Frakes added. "So, he hired the cinematographer [Marvin Rush] and the camera operator, and Brannon Braga, who wrote First Contact among other things that are fabulous. Robbie Duncan McNeill, one of our wonderful directors from Voyager, James Conway, who directed a bunch of great Next Gen episodes; he hired me. He filled the room with Next Gen people so that the show would look and feel like it. I think he did it."

Are you excited for the return of The Orville? Let us know in the comments!

The Orville returns tonight on FOX.

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