The Orville: Halston Sage Makes Her Return

Earlier this season, The Orville bid farewell to one of its original series regulars. Halston Sage played Lt. Alara Kitan, the chief of security about the Orville. The character seemed ot be written out of the series in the episode “Home.” FOX confirmed to ComicBook.com that “Home” was Sage’s final episode as a series regular, but noted that the door remained open for her to return.

Sage stepped through that door in The Orville‘s second season finale episode “The Road Not Taken.” The episode follows up on the penultimate episode of the season, in which a version of Kelly Grayson from before she had her second date with Ed Mercer was inadvertently brought into the future. That Kelly had her mind wiped and was sent back to her own time, but the mind wipe failed due to a protein deficiency in her brain. Having full knowledge of her failed marriage to Ed, this Kelly chooses to reject his offer for a second date.

This one choice had drastic consequences for the galaxy. Since Kelly never married Ed, never cheated on him, and never experienced any guilt for putting him in a career rut, she also never tried to make it up to him by suggesting him for command of the Orville. Without Ed in command and Kelly as his first officer, Issac’s time aboard the Orville went differently. He did not develop the personal relationships that led him to betray his people and so the Kaylons conquered the galaxy and destroyed Earth.

In “The Road Not Taken,” Kelly tries to make things right by assembling the people who were members of Orville‘s crew in the future she visited. With their help, she plans to send Dr. Claire Finn back in time to fix the problem with her memory wipe, thus erasing this darker timeline. In order to do this, she needs a dose of the protein that her brain is lacking. In order to obtain this protein, she needs the help of “the Lieutenant.”

This turns out to be Alara, who was serving aboard the Orville when the Kaylons attacked. Now she leads an underground resistance movement. She gives Kelly the protein she needs before the Kaylons find her base and attack. Kelly’s team offers to let Alara come with them, but she chooses to stay behind with her troops.

This episode will only lead to further comparisons between Sage’s time playing Alara and Denise Crosby’s time playing Lt. Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Like Alara, Lt. Yar was chief of security. Like Sage, Crosby left the series early on. And like Sage as Alara, Crosby returned to play Yar in an episode involving a darker alternate timeline, “Yesterday’s Enterprise.”

What do you think of Halston Sage’s return to The Orville? Let us know in the comments. The future of The Orville remains uncertain as FOX has yet to announce its renewal or cancellation.

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