Ever since The Orville: New Horizons wrapped on Hulu back in 2022, Seth MacFarlane has had to field questions about whether or not the cult-beloved sci-fi series will return. Earlier this year, he revealed that he has scripts for a fourth season all written; he just hasn’t been able to find enough time to turn his attention back to the show.
It was an encouraging update for the show’s fan base, at least until today’s news that MacFarlane has a new sci-fi show in development, this time at Peacock.
It’s called Future Housewives, and the creative team includes Orville veteran Brannon Braga, who also worked on Star Trek shows The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise. With Ronald D. Moore, he also co-wrote feature films Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact.
Reality show personality Ariana Madix, host of Peacock’s blockbuster series Love Island USA, and who also has TV and Broadway acting experience, will star. According to Deadline, Future Housewives is “set in the decadent asteroid colony of New Beverly Hills, where wealthy socialites juggle bioengineered beauty regimens, ruthless rivalries, and interplanetary scandals.
But when a young, starry-eyed outsider [played by Madix] unexpectedly upends their glamorous world, it exposes just how far they’ve drifted out of touch in a society evolving beyond superficiality in this sharply satirical yet surprisingly heartfelt reinvention of reality TV.”
If this sounds a bit out of MacFarlane’s wheelhouse, we invite you to recall The Orville season two episode “Command Performance,” in which characters played by MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki were rescued from an alien zoo when their captors realized they’d rather have the entire backlog of reality TV from 21st-century Earth—including, yes, Real Housewives.
Future Housewives is described as a scripted drama, but surely there’ll be potential for some campy table-flipping too. What do you think of this unexpected team-up?
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