The very smooth-looking cast of The Orville, in comic-book form. Image : Dark Horse

With The Orville’s very fun second season currently airing on Fox , Seth MacFarlane’s sci-fi series now has another treat waiting for fans that’ll take the cast to yet another new frontier: the pages of a comic book.


According to a Dark Horse press release, The Orville Season 1.5: New Beginnings—from show exec producer and writer David A. Goodman, artist David Cabeza, and colorist Michael Atiyeh—will span two double issues that will read like episodes of the show that take place between the first and second seasons. Here’s the official descriptions :

The first of these “episodes” starts with The Orville #1: New Beginnings Part 1 (of two). On their way to a fleet conference, Ed and Gordon investigate a distress signal from a century-old buoy belonging to a Union ship. Back on the Orville, Kelly tries to mediate when Bortus insists on enrolling Topa into school despite him being only a few months old. The second “episode” begins with The Orville #3: The Word of Avis Part 1 (of two) which sees the Orville intercept a small Union ship en route to the interstellar territory of the easily aggravated Krill. The passengers, originally thought to be a group of xenoanthropologists, turn out to be much, much more interesting and dangerous than the crew of the Orville could’ve imagined.


So, yeah, sounds like the TV show’s trademark mix of space hijink s and everyday life on the ship will carry over very much intact. And good news for Alara Kitan fans—since the comics take place before the second season (during which actor Halson Sage left the show) , the Orville’s petite but tough former security chief is still aboard for these adventures. See, she’s on the cover!

The Orville #1: New Beginnings Part 1 (of two) goes on sale July 17, 2019. You can catch the TV show Thursday nights on Fox.



For more, make sure you’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom.