A new season of The Orville has just started airing, and it has big shoes to fill. After a not-so-great premiere season, it managed to redeem itself with S2 where critics were much more impressed with how it grew beyond the Star Trek pastiche that it was.
Like S2, S3 is also trying to be a little more character-driven, but you may notice that a few familiar faces are no longer aboard The Orville.
Halston Sage’s Lieutenant Alara Kitan will not return for The Orville S3. The character made a departure from the show in S2, with her main arc ending in Ep 3 titled “Home.” She continued to guest star for the rest of S2.
Fans expected that Alara may make a few guest appearances in S3, like she did during the course of S2. But it is unlikely to happen.
Why did Halston Sage leave The Orville?
Alara is quite an accomplished character, despite her young age. She’s incredibly strong, intelligent and brave—after all, she did not win the Sapphire Star for nothing. So, it was sad to see the end of her arc quite early on in The Orville.
As per the story, Alara grows weaker under Orville’s Earth-like gravity. Where she once could lift 100 kg weights, she ends up easily fracturing her arm in a harmless arm wrestle.
Upon returning back to her home planet, and seeing how she has to mend things other than her health (like her relationship with her family), Alara decides to stay back on Xelaya.
She makes this decision despite the fact that LaMarr has developed a special gravity treatment for her that could allow her to continue working on Orville.
Now, Sage has stated that while this was not her choice, this was always supposed to be the natural denouement for her character’s story, as written by the show creators. There was no official reason published by either The Orville’s production team or Fox.
Every untimely exit is bound to spew rumors and this one is no different. Some cite that since Sage and Seth MacFarlane were in a relationship, they found it difficult to work together after the break-up, while others talk about Sage being unhappy, as she was constantly in prosthetics.
We may not know the real reason until someone officially clarifies it. But given how much time has passed since S2, it may be better just to move past it.
For The Orville S3, we have Jessica Szohr’s Talla Keyali who has taken over as the ship’s Chief of Security, to fill the Alara-shaped hole in our hearts.
About The Orville
The Orville is a science fiction comedy-drama series created and co-produced by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars as the lead on the show. The series is heavily inspired by the Star Trek franchise.
Set in the 25th century, the series captures how humanity has found alien life and created an interspecies-universal commission for maintaining peace. It follows the exploits of a union starship, USS Orville, as its crew embarks upon their journey of various missions across the galaxy.
Alongside MacFarlane, the show stars Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, Halston Sage, J. Lee, and others.
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