It’s been a while since we caught up with our adopted show, The Orville, but there is some important news today coming from Fox. We also have a few bits of news emanating from the production on season two, so get ready as we open a jar of pickles for an Orville update.

Season 2 will be mid-season show for Fox

Today Fox officially announced their upcoming season, setting The Orville for a mid-season premiere. The first episode of the season is set to air on Sunday, December 30th following an NFL double-header. Seth MacFarlane’s homage to Star Trek: The Next Generation will then move to regular slot on Thursdays in 2019 for its second season. Fox confirmed with TrekMovie that the second season of The Orville will have a total of 14 episodes.

The first season of The Orville premiered in the Fall of the 2017 and ran on Thursdays, however with Fox acquiring Thursday Night Football which will premiere this fall, the network has decided to move both Gotham and The Orville to mid-season to make room for football.

Six episodes shot

Production on the second season of The Orville has been continuing at pace since it began in March. The show will be producing 13 new episodes for season two, in addition there is an episode that is a hold over from season one, bringing the season 2 total to 14 episodes.

The show is currently on a brief hiatus, with MacFarlane and his cast in New York for Fox’s big Upfront presentation later on Monday. Last Friday The Orville wrapped production on its sixth episode of the second season according to producer/director Jon Cassar. A few days earlier Cassar also shared an interesting image from the set with a new alien along with a couple of Moclans, with the message “Just another day on The Orville.”

It appears the sixth episode will feature new castmember Jessica Szohr prominently, based on a tweet sent out by MacFarlane.

Hey @jessicaszohr way to kill it this week on your Orville episode! — Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) May 11, 2018

Szhor’s character now has a name

Speaking of Szohr, we believe we now know the full name of her character to be Talla Keyali. We already knew the last name based on a previous report and the first name was revealed in an Instagram photo showing off a set of gifts given out to the cast. As noted in a previous season two production report, Szhor’s Keyali appears to be a Xelayan security officer, just like Alara Kitan (Halston Sage).

Here is Jessica having some fun at today’s Fox Upfront event in New York.

The return of the Krill

An Instagram photo promoting Fox’s Wellness Fair on the lot which featured Yoga with Goats from Hello Critter Care, showed off an actor in Krill makeup. This indicates the Krill, who are a recurring villain on the series, will be back for an earlier episode in season two.

And just a few days ago, Jon Cassar shared another picture featuring him on set with a couple of Krill, indicating we may get two episodes with these baddies in the first half of season two.

Puppet alert

It was previously reported that an episode in season two may feature puppets, and we got another reminder of that last week when MJL Puppet Design posted another photo of a puppet being made for The Orville. The photo appears to be from same time as when they posted about Orville back in December and the new post refers to it as something “conceptual,” so there is no guarantee we will actually be seeing puppets in season two or if the puppets were something considered and not used for season one.

Action figures coming?

In an Instagram story (which automatically expire after a day), actor J. Lee (John LaMarr) revealed that he recently was scanned and measured for an action figure for The Orville. There has been no official announcement on any licensing deals for The Orville, but there was also a hint that there would be figures from The Orville at the Paley Center panel earlier this year.

Concept art

Seth MacFarlane has shared some interesting concept art for The Orville, from the preproduction of the first season.

Watch production designer talk about making two-story set

Deadline has a video interview with production designer Stephen Linewever as he explains how he has approached creating the sets for The Orville.

More fun from the set

Mike Henry, happy to be back again as Dann.

Chad Coleman does a bit of Shakespeare in full Klyden makeup.

Only in LA, Kai Wener (Ty Finn) showing off his school project about where he works (i.e. the 20th Century Fox lot).

Publicist Aj Feuerman caught a shuttle from The Orville parked on the “city streets” portion of Fox’s backlot.

That’s it for this update, keep with all our The Orville coverage.