The Orville spoilers follow.
The Orville star and creator Seth MacFarlane has explained that surprise character death in the season three finale.
In the action-packed episode, titled Domino, the crew tries to prevent the use of a lethal weapon designed to eliminate any Kaylon within its vicinity, but in order for the device to be destroyed, someone must stay behind to detonate it.
Ensign Charly Burke (played by Anne Winters) was that person, and in a surprise twist she ended up sacrificing herself to save Kaylon emissary Isaac (Mark Jackson).
Related: Fox confirms fate of Seth MacFarlane's The Orville
In an interview with TVLine, MacFarlane explained why he chose to fit the entire storyline and Charly's death into one episode rather than spread it out over several, which is what made it all the more shocking to viewers.
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"Part of the thing that maybe makes it feel [like it happened] a little bit quickly — and it’s one of the reasons I wrote the novella — is there was another episode that was supposed to be in between Midnight Blue and Domino," he revealed, adding that COVID really disrupted the filming schedule.
"We were all at a point where we just wanted to get this f**king thing on the air. We would all joke, 'Are we just going to be making this show for the rest of our lives and it will never go out on the air?'"
He added that he and the crew "just wanted to get it out there and see how the audience responded" to the big twists, adding: "We were out of gas, and the prospect of shooting another episode — particularly one as ambitious as Sympathy for the Devil (now a novella)… we just didn’t have anything left."
The Family Guy creator went on to say that while another episode in between would have made it feel less rushed, seeing two "brilliant minds" in Charly and Isaac working together makes it worthwhile.
"I think Ted Danson at one point says, 'How did you accomplish this so quickly?,' so hopefully that justifies it," he said. "Come on, you don’t want to see them screwing in bolts and all that shit." Fair point.
The Orville season 3 streams on Hulu in the US. In the UK, you can watch it on STAR on Disney+.
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