The Orville's executive producer Brannon Braga and co-producer Tom Constantino have discussed the surprise abortion controversy that featured in the sci-fi show's third season.
In episode four, 'Gently Falling Rain', it's revealed that the Krill aggressively attempt to deter abortion by forcing couples to interact with a simulated version of their unborn children.
The episode eerily aired the day before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ruling that the right to an abortion no longer exists, but Braga and Constantino have explained that the timing was purely coincidental.
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Speaking to Digital Spy and other media at San Diego Comic-Con, Braga was asked whether the long road to season three had affected some of the show's storylines, to which he replied:
"Not at all, some of the scripts were written 2.5 years ago. It was a coincidence that the episode about abortion happened to air during the Roe vs Wade controversy!"
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Constantino did, however, explain that they had referenced the pandemic because it had happened so long before the season was set to air.
"What did alter is we had more time to work on the episodes so treated them like feature films," he said. "We did have blatant reference to the pandemic [in Episode 6 'Twice in a Lifetime' where they visit 2025] only because it was 2 years out so it would be weird not to say it."
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Previously speaking of the episode's timing with TVLine, co-creator Seth MacFarlane said: "Yeah, that was an interesting and unfortunate coincidence. I think we wrote that script two years ago…? And of all times for it to land, it was pretty insane."
Going on to reference a paper written by Karl Sagan and Ann Druyan on Roe v. Wade, the actor added: "It was written from a scholarly perspective, breaking down the biology of how abortion works and concluding that the specifics of Roe v. Wade – just not the existence of it, but the particularities of it – were thoughtful and made a lot of sense.
"It’s something I always try to post regularly on social media when I think about it."
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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Social Executive, Entertainment Portfolio After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022, where she wrote across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. Following her internship, Iona continued contributing to the site as a freelance reporter, becoming social executive for the Hearst UK entertainment portfolio in summer 2025. Iona now leads the DS social channels, covering red carpets with stars such as Paul Mescal, Austin Butler, and more.
