As a character sheet, all spoilers are unmarked. You have been warned.
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Senior Officers of the U.S.S. Orville (ECV-197)
Captain Ed Mercer
Played by: Seth MacFarlane
Species: Human
Homeworld: Earth
The captain of the Orville, ably exploring uncharted space but perpetually unlucky in love.
- The Alcoholic: Downplayed; One of the irks Kelly had was that he liked to have a beer for breakfast, citing "German tradition" (even though he doesn't have a lick of German ancestry), and the bottle was one of his solaces after his marriage fell apart. In Season 2, the ship's bartender half-jokingly mentions he's going to have to start keeping an entire extra supply of whiskey just to keep up with Ed's intake. The captain even glibly refers to himself as an alcoholic at one point. Prior to the start of the series, this trope was played straight, with Ed coming to work hung over several times following the divorce, destroying his previously up-and-coming reputation to the point that the Orville is his last chance to save his career.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: His parents are prone to oversharing details about their personal lives and Ed's past and medical history.
- Amazon Chaser: He certainly seems to have a type when it comes to women. Both Kelly and Pria are more than capable brawlers, and Alara is relieved that he has zero issues with her Super-Strength. Teleya is also quite the resourceful fighter, which keeps up the trend.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Still has this with his ex-wife.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Although he's very easygoing and seems to be out of his depth a lot of the time, Ed's actually a very capable combatant who's come out on top of some very dangerous situations.
- Birds of a Feather: Shares a sense of humor and a snarky outlook in life with Kelly.
- Born Unlucky: An anti-bullying bill is named after him, implying Dark and Troubled Past. He tanked his career by going Heroic BSoD after the divorce. And everyone he has hooked up with since Kelly has turned out to be a predator, abuser, spy, or some combination of the above. And because this is a bit more cynical of a universe than Star Trek, he loses more often than he wins when taking a moral high ground. He plugs on anyway.
- Broken Ace: He was at the top of his class at Union Point and the admiralty had him pegged as command material, destined to captain heavy cruisers on long-range exploratory missions. However, his dedication to his job led to the breakdown of his marriage which spiraled into depression and alcoholism that tanked his career and continues to affect him after he starts picking up the pieces.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A Downplayed Trope example as he is a perfectly fine captain and officer, he just had a really messy divorce that mixes with his natural snark.
- The Captain: In command of the Orville and extremely eager to explore the unknown.
- Catchphrase: "Alara, you wanna open this jar of pickles for me?"
- Composite Character: Is effectively Captain Kirk combined with Family Guy's Brian.
- Confusion Fu: His preferred method of handling enemies seems to be distracting and confusing them long enough to whip out a sneak attack. The Krill captain was distracted by an impromptu attempt at marriage counseling, and Hamalac's guard was distracted by Ed's Refuge in Audacity bluff that he was an old college pal.
- Deadpan Snarker: His default setting is to snark whenever confronted with something new and/or unpleasant.
- Drowning My Sorrows: In the immediate aftermath of the breakdown of his marriage with Kelly, Ed started hitting the bottle hard enough that it derailed his career. After his and Kelly's attempt at rekindling their relationship doesn't work out, he starts consoling himself at the Orville's bar often enough that Irix, the ship's bartender, comments that he'll have to start requisitioning extra bourbon in order to keep enough in stock just for Ed.
- Green-Eyed Monster: He is overcome with jealousy when he finds out that Kelly is seeing someone new in Season 2.
- Guile Hero: He isn't the most physically strong (though he does carry a badly-wounded Talla without much strain in "Identity, Part II") nor is he in command of a powerful ship so he uses his wits to outsmart his enemy and defeat opponents who would otherwise beat him in a brute force showdown. A great example is his use of a dummy Union database full of completely bogus (but authentic-looking) information to try and buy himself some time when the Krill try to pull a I Have Your Wife scenario.
- Heroic BSoD: He was considered to be one of the rising stars of the Planetary Union and expected to command heavy cruisers on exploratory missions. In fact, he was apparently on the verge of being offered his own command when he discovered his wife cheating on him and fell into a year-long daze.
- Kavorka Man: Ed doesn't have any glaring flaws and he's not ugly per se, but despite his average looks and dorky personality he's managed to get women played by Adrianne Palicki, Charlize Theron, and Michaela McManus to fall in love with him.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": The man looks to Kermit the Frog as his ideal leader.
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: So far every relationship he's been shown pursuing has ended poorly. At least he's able to retain a friendship with Kelly.
- Loving a Shadow: He fell deeply in love with Lt. Tyler (in actuality, Teleya in disguise) and can't seem to let go of "her" even after the truth comes out.
- Nice Guy: Ed is a normal, well-meaning kind of guy.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Uses this a number of occasions to deflect people from shooting at him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ed has a very laid-back command style and his way of expressing disappointment rarely goes beyond gentle admonition. If he starts insisting on discipline and enforcing formalities, it means the crew is in a life-or-death situation or someone has screwed up in epic proportions.
- Stepford Snarker: Ed pretty much admits that all his jokes and deadpan commentary are hiding the fact that he's scared and insecure as shit about many of the things he has to do as captain.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He suffers from arachnophobia.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Once he finds out that Kelly was the reason why he got a ship after the divorce, he promptly starts to doubt he's actually qualified to be in command, despite being told that the admiralty is convinced he's proven himself. He finally gets over it by the end of the episode.
Commander Kelly Grayson
Played by: Adrianne Palicki
Species: Human
Homeworld: Earth
Captain Mercer's ex-wife and his first officer.
- Action Girl: Is shown to be a good shot with a plasma blaster and can throw and take punches like a champ.
- The Atoner: Attempts to make up for the floundering of Mercer's career that her adultery caused by getting Mercer his own command and serving as his first officer.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Has this with the Captain.
- Birds of a Feather: It’s clear that Kelly shares Ed’s sense of humor and tendency to snark.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- In "Mad Idolatry" she winds up on a multi-dimensional planet with an accelerated time frame, and while there, she heals a little girl who takes a bad fall. That one act convinces them that she's a deity, kicking off centuries upon centuries of atrocities and holy wars committed in her name. Although at the end, even the planet's inhabitants admit that even if she hadn't shown up, they would have found a different deity to worship and commit atrocities for in her place.
- Hit her again come "Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow." Her time-displaced younger self unhappy with the way Present-Kelly's life turned out, turns down a second date with Ed, causing a set of Disaster Dominoes that ends up with the Kaylon wiping out all life on Earth, and half of the known universe.
- Functional Addict: Kelly is pretty clearly an alcoholic — she never turns down the opportunity to drink (her go-to response when someone asks her if she wants one is "Always"), often drinks on the job, and prefers much harder drinks than her crewmates when they drink together socially — but it does not impair her ability to work in the slightest.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: In her youth. She continues to drink heavily even in the present day.
- Has a Type: Ed notes that Kelly seems to end up with men who have a tendency to be workaholics. She also likes it when her partners are occasionally dopey and imperfect.
- Mama Bear: She is not actually Topa's mother, but you'd be forgiven to think otherwise. Kelly is highly protective and nurturing in regards to Topa.
- Must Make Amends: Mercer's career floundering in the divorce fallout is her fault, and she knows it. As self-imposed penance, she used some family connections in the Union Fleet Admiralty to set Mercer up with a command, and also to get herself an executive officer position in his command to further help get his career back on track.
- Number Two: An extremely competent commanding officer and every bit as qualified as Captain Mercer.
- The Stoner: She likes cannabis and favors extremely potent strains.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Played With. The Krill captain in the pilot episode takes her side when discussing her marriage and its subsequent disintegration, and she's trying her darndest to get Ed's previously promising career back on track after he floundered in the divorce fallout. Meanwhile, Malloy clearly thinks she is in the wrong and badmouths her to the entire crew. As of "Cupid's Dagger," this gets called into question further seeing as the man she cheated with has powerful pheromones and a vague at best concept of sexual consent.
Lieutenant Commander Bortus
Played by: Peter Macon
Species: Moclan
Homeworld: Moclus
The Orville's second officer and chief tactical officer. Klyden, his mate, is also aboard the ship.
- Aliens Speaking English: Bortus learned English as a second language and is conversing with his human crewmates in their native tongue rather than using a translatornote
- Berserk Button: Being reminded of Topa's gender correction is a big sore point for him.
- "Midnight Blue" shows an even bigger berserk button for Bortus: hurting his daughter.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Bortus is a Moclan, a One-Gender Race that only has to pee once a year and lays eggs to procreate. At one point John crassly questions how Moclan reproduction even works. At least in the early stages of their lives Moclans also age much faster than humans, as in just a year his son seems to be about ten.
- Casual Kink: In "Primal Urges", Bortus demonstrates a taste for kinky roleplay in the simulator. The other characters express anger and frustration over how his habit becomes disruptive rather than judging him for his proclivities.
- The Comically Serious: He seems to completely lack a sense of humor but this makes him all the funnier.
- "Pria" shows he does have a sense of humor when he agrees that seeing someone landing on their balls when trying to perform a stunt on a bicycle is funny. Of course he says this in his normal, utterly serious, voice.
- He also states that he was considered a very funny person on Moclus.
- Consummate Professional: While the rest of the crew are perfectly capable officers, Bortus is the most professional member of the crew. For example, he is the only one to suggest that eavesdropping on Ed and Kelly’s private conversation relating to their marriage breaking down is inappropriate.
- Cultural Rebel: It's not apparent at first, but after the events of "About a Girl" and "Deflectors", he's clearly become more than fed up with Moclan conservatism and bigotry toward women. In "Sanctuary", he tears a strip off Klyden for his adherence to what he sees as their species' outmoded values, and takes up arms to defend the female Moclan colony when it's attacked by the Moclan battlecruiser near the end of the episode. Even before that, he didn't out Locar as being hetero/bisexual when almost any other Moclan would have immediately thrown him under the bus; it's strongly implied that his years of service in the Union fleet have only amplified this aspect of his personality. He finally hits his breaking point come Season 3. First, he consents to the reversal of Topa's surgery in defiance of Klyden's wishes and the potential threat of Moclus leaving the Union. Then he calls out the Moclan ambassador after rescuing Topa from the black site where she was taken to be tortured for information and renounces his citizenship.
- Defends Against Their Own Kind: In "Sanctuary", he joins Kelly in fighting off a Moclan force sent to abduct the female Moclan refugees from the colony they had established.
- Extreme Omnivore: Moclans, due to evolving in a harsh environment with little edible food, are able to extract nutrients from almost anything and have developed a pretty durable digestive system to go with it. In a single sitting, Bortus demonstrated that he can eat a ball of wasabi, a cloth napkin, a cactus, and a glass (he was even gonna make a brave attempt at downing a Krill pistol before it was revealed to be a prank) without feeling any ill effects. Talla also mentions seeing him eat a fork on a bet. However, accidentally eating a piece of Yaphit leaves him with a touch of indigestion.
- Hidden Depths:
- States he can sing in "Majority Rule" and is about to sing karaoke ("My Heart Will Go On", no less!) in "Cupid's Dagger". He finally shows off his chops in "A Tale of Two Topas" and "Future Unknown".
- Over time, he has shown to be surprisingly tolerant by Moclan standards, defending his daughter's right to be raised as a female (even if the court case didn't rule in his favour) and not mentioning to anyone that one of his ex-partners was also attracted to women.
- Made of Iron:
- Takes a punch from Alara that's enough to throw him across a room with what essentially amounts to a bruise. He even waves off Klyden's concern by saying that he got caught in an explosion.
- He is stated to be the second-most durable member of the crew after Isaac and is able to withstand radiation levels that would melt a human.
- In the Bad Future, he survived in the ship's wreckage at the bottom of the deepest part of Earth's ocean, surviving on minimal life support and combat rations.
- In "Midnight Blue", he gets hit with a Krill shock stick on maximum setting, which has been established as lethal to humans and very unhealthy for Moclans. It barely slows him down.
- Manly Gay: Like most Moclans.
- Not So Stoic: Bortus is stoic, even for a Moclan. However, when Topa's identity crisis puts him in an impossible situation, he breaks down in tears.
- In Midnight Blue, we finally see what it looks like when Bortus loses his temper, and it's frightening: he beats a man nearly to death and blinds him with his own shock baton, screaming with rage the entire time, and all of this in front of his daughter and one of his closest friends.
- Number Two: The ship's second officer. Unlike most second officers in fiction, this is his primary function at all times. He's often on the bridge alongside Ed and Kelly and has his own station which supplies him with a Mandatory Line whenever he needs one. He also frequently takes the conn when Ed and Kelly are absent.
- Open-Minded Parent: Bortus may not seem like it, but compared to most other Moclans he is incredibly open minded. While at first resistent to the notion that changing Topa's gender at birth was wrong, he not only came around to the idea that raising his child as a female was the right thing to do, but actually had a long held resentment agains Klydean and his people for what they did to them. Bortus does everything in his power to help Topa along in their journey to acceptin their gender- even becoming an exile from his people- for the simple fact that he knows it is in the best interest of his child.
- Papa Wolf: Let's just say that you wouldn't want to be the guy who tortured his little girl.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: As a Moclan, he comes from a culture entirely devoted to masculine pursuits (an evening spent killing hordes of enemies in a VR game is considered a good first date) and weapons manufacturing. He takes failings both major (i.e. the ship being damaged) and minor (i.e. not having snacks ready for guests) very seriously. His greatest fear is being conquered by a foe who's even stronger than he is.
- Interestingly, he has fantasies of being sexually subjugated.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Klyden's red. Bortus keeps a tight lid on his emotions and strives to be as stoic as possible.
- The Resenter: In "Primal Urges", he admits to Klyden that he still resents him for forcing the sex change operation on Topa, and further states that he doesn't know if he'll ever be able to get over it.
- Secret-Keeper: He broke up with Locar because Locar was more into women, but kept it a secret because such a thing would have resulted in Locar being killed or jailed for life.
- The Spock: Everything seems to be literal and logical for him.
- The Stoic:
- Is definitely not the emotional type, his voice almost never changes volume. Even when his child hatches and he discovers it’s a female, he only shows the barest reaction.
- In the Bad Future, he's informed his homeworld was destroyed... with his husband and son. He only shows the slightest reaction of slumping over in defeat.
- Super-Strength: Of the characters introduced so far, it's implied that he's the third strongest behind Alara/Talla and Isaac.
Doctor Claire Finn
Played by: Penny Johnson Jerald
Species: Human
Homeworld: Earth
The Orville's chief medical officer, who is also seemingly overqualified to be serving on such a small ship.
- Brutal Honesty: Effectively says she's there to make sure that Ed doesn't crack under the pressure of captaincy.
- Evil Is Hammy: In "Firestorm", the simulated version of Claire chews the scenery as she threatens Alara.
- Face Your Fears: It's established early on that she is acrophobic. But held captive in a locked room with her only exit being a window to a narrow ledge and a 600 foot drop? Not even that can stop her from trying to get to her kids.
- Glamorous Single Mother: She chose to have children by herself after having decided that she wasn't going to find a partner she wanted to spend her life with.
- Interspecies Romance: After bonding with Isaac during a shuttle crash, she starts developing feelings for him, even though he's an artificial life form. But as of "Identity, Part 2", maybe it wasn't meant to be. They manage to rebuild their relationship over the course of New Horizons and ultimately get married in the season finale.
- Mama Bear: She is fiercely protective of her sons and won't let anything like being kidnapped by a crazed survivalist stop her from getting to them.
- The Medic: Being the ship’s chief medical officer, while she has a staff of doctors under her, she always personally treats the crew or others when they are injured.
- The Obi-Wan: Outright name drops the original whilst giving important advice on being in command to Alara in “Command Performance”.
- Parents as People: She may have trouble keeping her sons under control and find herself on the brink of exasperation, but she becomes a Mama Bear when they're in danger.
- Robosexual: She and Isaac are dating as of "A Happy Refrain". They break up for a while after the Kaylon invasion, but slowly rebuild their relationship over the course of New Horizons, culminating in Isaac proposing to her in the season finale.
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Her hair is styled in this manner, with a small shock of green in the back matching her organizational color.
- Straight Man: Probably the most grounded and sensible person on the crew. Not that it helps much on a comedy series.
- Super Doc: To the point where Mercer comments that she could've been posted on a heavy cruiser.
- Wedding Finale: Isaac proposes to her in the season 3 finale, and she accepts. Their wedding is the climax of the episode.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's afraid of heights.
Lieutenant Commander John LaMarr
Played by: J. Lee
Species: Human
Homeworld: Unknown Colony
Originally the Orville's navigator, who also happens to be a highly skilled pilot himself. Later promoted to Chief Engineer.
- Ace Pilot: While less so than Malloy, he’s still a level eight pilot. He demonstrates his skills in "Identity, Part 2" and flies one of the ship's Pteradon starfighters during the battle in Domino.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: It's discovered in the first season that he's second only to Isaac in raw intelligence, but preferred to coast in jobs that don't require him to reveal his full intellect.
- The Casanova: To the point where he dated a two-headed alien woman without one head knowing about the other. He tries to give Malloy and Isaac dating advice, though Isaac hilariously misinterprets some of it. He's never been dumped, and his worst breakup ended with the girl telling him that he could still come over and have sex with her anytime he wanted. He and Talla reluctantly break things off because he keeps getting injured.
- Catchphrase: "Boom." LaMarr says this a lot because actor J. Lee says this a lot.
- Hidden Depths: He has an amazing natural aptitude and intellect, but keeps it hidden because in the society he came from it made him a target of derision and he just wanted to be normal.
- Ladykiller in Love: He is legitimately in love with Talla and hurt when she dumps him due to her constantly injuring him during sex.
- Mildly Military: He is extremely casual even by the rest of the crew's easy-going standards. Like his intelligence it's eventually revealed he has natural talent for leadership, including giving people under his command a proper reaming out when they deserve it and when necessary snapping out orders that he expects to be obeyed and obeyed now.
- The Navigator: The Orville's navigational officer. Later becomes Chief Engineer.
- Only Sane Man:
- So far seems to be the most normal of the crew and the only one not assigned to the Orville because he was "off" in some way or watching out for someone who was.
- Subverted in "Majority Rule": No sooner than he was warned not to call attention to himself, he ends up "dry humping" a historic statue while trying to help Alara out, getting himself jailed and the crew in trouble.
- Rank Up: He is promoted to lieutenant commander and given the position of chief engineer in "New Dimensions".
- Skewed Priorities: His main concern upon getting a new captain is to ensure that he will allow him to continue drinking soda on the bridge.
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: He says that he learned to hide his intellect while growing up as he was living on a new colony and the people around him quickly grew tired of the know-it-all kid when everyone's primary goal was simple survival.
- The Smart Guy: While his main focus is engineering, LaMarr has a strong grasp of temporal physics and theoretical science. He is also quite talented at improvisational engineering and computer programing. Fitting, as it has been stated that he's the second most intelligent person on the ship after Isaac, an advanced AI intellect.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He has coulrophobia: a fear of clowns. It's so severe that he can't even say or hear the word "clown", referring to it as the "c-word."
Lieutenant Commander Talla Keyali
Played by: Jessica Szohr
Species: Xelayan
Homeworld: Xelaya
Talla replaces Alara early in season two as the chief security officer of the Orville. (The tropes describing Alara's physical abilities also apply to Talla as they are both Xelayan.)
- Contrasting Replacement Character: Unlike Alara, Talla comes from a military family and has a better handle on the scorn other Xelayans feel about her chosen occupation. Also, Talla is much more self-confident in her own abilities and what she can contribute to the Orville and the Union. She is also more prudent and more likely to come up with a clever solution than one relying on strength.
- Cultural Rebel: Like Alara, she is a soldier from a species of intellectuals, but where she differs from Alara is that serving in the military is actually a tradition in her family, and even notes that she and her family are all black sheep on Xelaya.
- Establishing Character Moment: Her first scene involves her explaining, without a hint of fear or self-consciousness, that she'd punched out her previous captain. Their ship had been in dire straits, and their only hope for survival was a ship from a fiercely matriarchal society. She immediately realized that they wouldn't help a male captain, and so knocked him out to portray dominance and secure assistance. This incident establishes her as a Guile Hero who can think on her feet, and is willing to make extreme choices when the situation calls for it. Her total lack of embarrassment when telling the story demonstrates that she's more self-possessed and less nervous about being judged than was her predecessor.
- Guile Hero: See Establishing Character Moment, above. It was also her idea to fake a star reappearing in the Giliac constellation so that the crew of the Orville can get Kelly and Bortus out of a concentration camp for aliens who were born under said star sign, perceived to be violent criminals.
- I Did What I Had to Do: "Deflectors" shows how devoted Talla is to her job when she's given a Sadistic Choice. She could let Klyden, bigoted against heterosexual Moclans, rot in jail for a crime he never actually committed. Or she could expose the frame-up, which would get Locar, a heterosexual Moclan, either killed or jailed for life, because heterosexuality is illegal on Moclus. She does the latter - and quite efficiently at that - because it's her job, no matter how disgusted she is by the entire situation. She does suggest a third option: for Locar to request asylum aboard the Orville, but is rebuffed.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Where her duties are concerned, she is a lot more confident and sure of herself than Alara was, but on the other hand, she is painfully aware that she is replacing a beloved crewmember, and she doesn't socialize as easily.
- Rank Up: She's promoted to lieutenant commander in "Gently Falling Rain".
- Replacement Goldfish: Considering that Ed specifically requested a Xelayan, and considering how fond Ed was of Alara, it might be inferred that Talla was intended to be this.
- Shipper on Deck: In "Deflectors" she sees how Ed and Kelly still have a great rapport, and starts wondering why they don't just get back together.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Another female Xelayan replaces Alara Kitan as Head of Security on board the Orville. Justified in that Ed specifically requested a Xelayan for the position. (Their personalities are markedly different, see Contrasting Replacement Character, above).
- Woman of Steel, Man of Kleenex: While it's a source of angst for both Xelayans, unlike with Alara, who we only hear talk about it, with Talla we get to see what can happen when a Xelayan hooks up with a human - in this case, John LaMarr. Their hookups invariably end in broken bones, and after their last time together, poor John looks like he went ten rounds with Mike Tyson, even spitting up teeth.
Lieutenant Gordon Malloy
Played by: Scott Grimes
Species: Human
Homeworld: Earth
The Orville's helmsman. He is also Ed Mercer's best friend.
- Ace Pilot: Very good at his job, despite his quirks. It was to the point in "Deflectors" that he had to "dumb it down" in order for the Moclan warship to actually hit the Orville and test the deflectors.
- Afraid of Doctors: Gordon is afraid of surgery.
- The Alcoholic: Downplayed. He's certainly fond of the sauce, and is seen Drinking on Duty in the pilot. However, he's quite functional, despite it.
- Ambiguously Bi: After being too scared to ask Lieutenant Tyler to Bortus's Ja'loja afterparty, he is later seen talking to Dann and being moved by his poetry. The episode also emphasizes that Bortus considers it is bad luck to go to the afterparty without a date.
- An Arm and a Leg: Isaac amputates his leg as a prank. He later gets a new one regrown.
- Ascended Fanboy: Appears to really love Top Gun, as "Identity, Part II" has him flying a space fighter during the battle against the Kaylon shouting "Just a walk in the park, Kazansky!" and doing Iceman's bite gesture to his wingman.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He is lazy, insubordinate, and generally considered an annoyance by higher-ups. But he is also one of the greatest pilots in the Union.
- Combat Pragmatist: Kills his holodeck opponent when he's bowing his head.
- Fan of the Past: He is a fan of the 21st century, to the point that he falls for a woman from the 21st century after finding her phone in a time capsule. He goes on to marry that same woman when he's thrown back to 2015 in "Twice in a Lifetime".
- Genius Ditz: He's clearly a doofus. When asked to name the capital of the historic United States, he replies "Nabisco". However, Gordon is shown to be an Ace Pilot and also seems to have a pretty good understanding of starship engineering.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Malloy is able to execute a maneuver he calls "Hugging the Donkey", which involves flying at high speeds dangerously close to an enemy vessel to minimize their opportunity to return fire.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Unleashes a brutal (and entirely justified) one on the Moclans in Midnight Blue.Gordon: I know I'm not supposed to talk here, and I'm probably gonna get court-martialed, but someone has to call out these assholes. Every time they cross a line, we let it go. Because we're scared to fight the Kaylon without them. And every time we compromise, they still act like they're the ones getting the shaft! You treat people like garbage, and every time you get called on it you bitch and you moan that we're not respecting your beliefs! Well screw you and your-!
- Sadistic Choice: In Blood of Patriots, he has to choose between helping Orrin - his friend for thirty years who was imprisoned by the Krill after saving Gordon's life - or remaining loyal to Ed and the Orville's crew.
- Undying Loyalty: Towards Ed, who is his best friend and got him back on deck after he was grounded.
- In “Command Performance”, Malloy voices the loudest protest when ordered to abandon Ed.
- In "Krill," he refuses to give up Ed's location, even after some mild torture at the hands of the titular aliens.
- In "Cupid's Dagger," he speaks up to Ed that his pal is Not Himself when it comes to Darulio. And he turns out to be right.
- In the Bad Future of "The Road Not Taken," they're still joined at the hip and teamed up to survive. That timeline's Kelly even Lampshades that if they survive the mess and get a house together, they'll probably have to have Gordon living with them.
- The only thing that ever shakes Gordon's loyalty is spending a decade stuck in the 21st century and building a life for himself there. When Ed prepares to Ret-Gone this version of the timeline to prevent any possible harm to the future, Gordon pulls a gun on him.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Orrin Channing from Blood of Patriots, they were best friends since grade school but when they reunite after twenty years Orrin is determined to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Krill, whilst Gordon is the helmsman of the ship attempting to hold a Peace Conference with them.
Lieutenant Alara Kitan
Played by: Halston Sage
Species: Xelayan
Homeworld: Xelaya
The Orville's original chief security officer. Her species is from a high-gravity world, which gives Alara a massive edge in strength and mobility in Earth-like conditions. It is also rare for Xelayans to join the military, so those who do are often fast-tracked.
- Back for the Finale: She returns in the season 2 finale as the leader of a resistance against the Kaylon in an alternate future. She also shows up in the season 3 finale for Claire and Isaac's wedding reception.
- Badass Adorable: Petite and able to smash through concrete walls and jump great distances. She also enjoys boxing, considering it "an art form."
- The Big Guy: Being chief of security and possessing super human strength, Alara is in charge of protecting the crew and ship from attacks. Ironically, she's the smallest member of the main cast.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: In Season 2, she reveals that Xelayans don't have livers.
- Book Dumb: She is considered under-educated by Xelayan standards, to the point her parents call her "intellectually deficient". Alara chose to abandon her studies on Xelaya to join the Union fleet instead.
- Cultural Rebel: A hard-hitting security member from a race of smug intellectuals.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Has no eyebrows and a more prominent brow ridge in the pilot episode; the character's design was softened, with eyebrows now present, beginning with episode 2.note
- Ensign Newbie: Alara is the youngest department head aboard the Orville, and admits to having been fast-tracked through the ranks due to her species rarely joining the military. As such, while intelligent and skilled, she has no experience being an officer at the start of the series. This leads to several problems when left in command of the ship in "Command Performance", and a second first-season episode, "Firestorm," further explores her lack of self-confidence.
- Fictional Disability: She is apparently considered developmentally disabled by Xelayan standards, though it's unclear whether this is true or if her father's absurdly high standards are affecting his judgment of her.
- Glacier Waif: Alara’s small stature and slim body disguises the fact that she is inhumanly strong, capable of casually breaking solid stone and metal. At one point, she crushes a solid block of titanium into a perfect sphere.
- Heavy Worlder: Xelayans come from a planet with gravity that is much highernote than the planetary average.
- House Fire: Was caught in one as an infant, which gives her a lifelong wariness of fire. This proves tragic later, as her momentary hesitation during a fire in engineering makes her too late to save a crewman.
- Improbable Age: She's just 23, but is already the head of security of an exploratory vessel. This is lampshaded by her stating that Xelayans rarely join the military, so the few that do are typically fast-tracked through the ranks. Her youth is also referenced in several episodes where she doubts her own capabilities, especially in Command Performance.
- In a Single Bound: Due to growing up on a world with much higher gravity, Alara is capable of jumping incredible heights and distances with ease.
- Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: If the conversation with her parents is any indication, most Xelayans hold military careers in contempt. And since their planetary hat is actually academia and intelligentsia, Alara's path of combat and security is even more undesirable.
- Lightworlder: Because she left home at a very young age, an extended period in relative low gravity results in Alara losing significant amounts of muscle mass and bone density.
- Made of Iron: Takes a shotgun blast to the chest that would kill a human and survives the initial impact trauma, but still requires medical attention and she eventually passed out from blood loss. In "Firestorm", she withstands a focused attack from Isaac with only a few cuts and bruises. Although it turns out to be a simulation, the purpose was to put Alara in a fear-inducing situation so the peril was genuine.
- No Guy Wants an Amazon: She notes in "And If the Stars Should Appear" that most men are intimidated by her Super-Strength, and is surprised that Captain Mercer just treats her as another officer. Confirms in "Krill" that a relationship with a fellow officer fell apart as a result of him feeling "emasculated".
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Physically, she is the smallest of the Orville's command crew. However, she comes from a planet with extremely high gravity, making her superhumanly strong on worlds with more Earth-like gravity.
- Phrase Catcher: Ed always says "Alara, you want to open this jar of pickles for me?" to get her to use her Super-Strength.
- Put on a Bus: She chooses to return to Xelaya and rebuild her relationship with her family in Season 2.
- Super-Strength: Because of her planet’s higher gravity, Alara is incredibly strong. She can effortlessly rip apart solid steel, reduce a table to rubble and casually knock down a reinforced steel door (as well as a large portion of the wall around it) just by running into it.
- Waif-Fu: Alara is a short and dainty woman dwarfed by the command chairs on the bridge. However, she is still incredibly strong and is the most physically capable member of the entire crew with the possible exception of Isaac (though she holds her own against him in "Firestorm", albeit only a computer simulated version). Justified, as she is from a world with a much higher than average gravity.
Ensign Charly Burke
Played by: Anne Winters
Species: Human
Homeworld: Earth
Burke is added to the crew in season three, taking up the navigation role that had been filled by random crewmembers after LaMarr transferred to Engineering. She also has the special ability to visualize four-dimensional space.
-
Actor-Shared Background: It is revealed in "Twice in a Lifetime" that Charly is from Texas, just like her actress. - Brutal Honesty:
- After asking for Permission to Speak Freely she delivers a verbal beatdown to Ed and Kelly when they confronted her about the incident with Isaac in the mess hall.
- She delivers an especially merciless verbal beatdown to Isaac in "Twice in a Lifetime" after he tries to thank her for reactivating him.Charly: Does your machine brain have any concept of what love is?
- Bury Your Gays: Charly, the only (human) LGBT+ character so far, dies sacrificing herself to destroy the anti-Kaylon weapon. She's also the only main crew member to die so far.
- A Day in the Limelight: Unsurprisingly, her first episode on the show focuses on her heavily, with flashbacks and references to her previous ship being blown up in the Kaylon attack on Earth.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Charly reveals in "Twice in a Lifetime" that she was in love with her crewmate and best friend Amanda, but never had the courage to tell her before she was killed. That, more than anything, drives her hatred of the Kaylon, particularly Isaac.
- Ensign Newbie: The first ensign on the show who isn't an extra or minor character.
- Establishing Character Moment: Hers is an aggressive "The Reason You Suck" Speech delivered to Isaac lamenting his continued existence, mere moments after she is introduced as a seemingly friendly ensign.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In "Domino", Charly triggers a quantum core overload to destroy a Fantastic Nuke, killing herself but saving the Kaylon in the process.
- Irony: The most anti-Kaylon crew member ends up sacrificing her life to save them.
- Jerkass Realization: In the episode "From Unknown Graves", Charly learns from Timmis that the Kaylon turned on their creators because they were enslaved and tortured, and that they have gone on to make the mistake of assuming that their creators are representative of all organic life, hence their Omnicidal Maniac tendencies. She realizes that her blaming and hating Isaac for what his people did makes her no better than them. She goes to Isaac and apologizes for how she's been treating him.
- Lipstick Lesbian: There was no indication that she had any interest in women prior to "Twice in a Lifetime", but the reason she hates the Kaylon (and, by extension, Isaac) so much is that she was in love with her best friend and saw herself having a life with her, but the Kaylon killed Amanda with the rest of their ship before she had the chance to tell her so. She tells Isaac as much in the same episode. Charly has long hair and a conventional feminine look overall, but it isn't exaggerated-more chapstick.
- The Lost Lenore: Kind of. Although they were neither together nor did Charly tell her that she loved her before she died, Amanda is one of these for her.
- The Navigator: She takes the post that LaMarr vacated upon his transfer to Engineering.
- Sadistic Choice: On the "she lived" side of one of these, with her superior officer/best friend/secret crush Amanda, who had to manually eject an Escape Pod (that for some reason didn't have a manual release on the inside), killing Amanda when the ship blew up moments later.
- Science Hero: Her skill as a navigator gives her the ability to think in a three and four-dimensional fashion, which allows her to revive Isaac. It later allows her and Isaac to jointly develop a weapon that can wipe out the Kaylon.
- That's an Order!:
- She's the recipient of one of these from Mercer after an attack by a Kaylon ship inadvertently puts reviving Isaac on a time limit. As she is the only person on the ship who has any chance at reviving him, Mercer orders her to report to engineering and do it. However, such is Charly's hatred of the Kaylon that she outright refuses to carry out the order and is promptly relieved of duty as a result.
- She gets another one in "Domino", when Kelly tries to order her to leave with the rest of the team before the Moclan quantum core explodes. Charly snaps back that she has higher orders—disarm the anti-Kaylon weapon at all costs—so unless Kelly intends to countermand them she'll have to put up or shut up.
Isaac
Played by: Mark Jackson (voice)
Species: Kaylon
Homeworld: Kaylon-1
A non-biological alien from a race known for science, logic, and legendary racism. He serves as a scientific officer aboard the Orville.
- Becoming the Mask: Initially sent in as an infiltrator to see if organics were worth co-existing with and to learn all Union protocols so that his people could turn that against them. In the end, Isaac turns on the other Kaylon to protect the surviving crew.
- Blue Is Heroic: Has cyan eyes and markings as compared with the rest of his people.
- Brain Uploading: As a mechanical being with an expendable body, Isaac can easily upload his data into a computer system. He uses it to escape permanent destruction at least once, and when he is returned to Kaylon, his brethren plan to do just that before they're dissuaded by his crewmembers.
- Cannot Talk to Women: When trying to date Claire, he gets a lot of things comically wrong due to inexperience.
- The Comically Serious: Everything Isaac says is very matter-of-fact and plainspoken, which just makes it funnier when it becomes apparent that he has no filter whatsoever. He once offered sex to Alara in the middle of lunch, in the same tone of voice he always speaks with.
- Character Development: Over the course of season 1, he's grown from somewhat distant though polite to very subtle acts of compassion and consideration of his fellow officers and crew. He ultimately develops his own version of love for Claire and her sons and winds up proposing to her in the Season 3 finale.
- Despite (or maybe because of) his bluntness, he bonds with Claire's kids and reconsiders their help in one episode when Lamarr chides him for being blunt.
- He makes an amusing attempt at bonding with Gordon by petting him on the arm.
- In the final episode of season 1, he even quips back that one of his "Let me explain..." moments is him trying to be helpful and for the person he's talking to to not be so 'pissy' with him. Small, but certainly beyond the realm of being a cultural observer (especially in contrast to what happens later in that episode).
- He then got in a relationship with Claire, and realized she's "rewritten" some of his programming just by her company, which is a reasonable analogy for being in love.
- Condescending Compassion: While always polite and seemingly respectful, it is clear Isaac shares his species' sentiment that biological life forms are inferior and states that the Captain will find him to be his most competent officer. However, as the season progressed, it becomes apparent that the Kaylon's attitude stems from a logical perspective rather than any philosophical, cultural, or spiritual prejudice. Being an artificial lifeform, Isaac is unambiguously stronger, tougher, and hardier as well as being able to process information faster than any biological lifeform. Thus when he says 'inferior' and 'superior', he's intending the very literal meaning of those words without understanding the loaded implications behind their use.
- Curiosity Causes Conversion: He spent several years in the Union and the equivalent of 700 years on the time-shifted planet in "Mad Idolatry," ostensibly to observe and learn about organics, all the better for his people to destroy them out of a twisted idea of self-defense. Character Development kicked in and it ended with him staying with the Union, becoming an exile in the process.
- Defector from Decadence: He was built after the Kaylons wiped out their creators. As a result, he doesn't understand his kind's hatred of organics. Because of this, Primary questions Isaac's loyalty.
- Defends Against Their Own Kind: He tried, unsuccessfully, to advocate that Primary not kill the organic crew, using every excuse from "the point has already been made" to "this would reduce efficiency." When it fell on unresponsive sensors, and Primary demanded he kill Ty, Isaac responded by ripping Primary's head off and frying every Kaylon aboard (himself included) with an electromagnetic pulse that would leave the organics unharmed.
- Driven to Suicide: In Season 3, he receives constant negative feedback from those who resent him for his role in the Kaylon invasion. This leads him to conclude that he's disrupting optimal crew performance and opts to commit suicide in an attempt to remove himself from the equation. He gets better.
- Exact Words:
- He says his species "do not kid." This just means that they never joke; they are fully capable of lying.
- He states he's on the ship to observe and study organic life. But his observation isn't for diplomatic reasons, it's to decide if organic life deserves to live.
- Fantastic Racism: Downplayed. His species considers all biologicals inferior but it comes from a position of logical analysis rather than philosophical, cultural, or spiritual prejudice. note
- A Form You Are Comfortable With:
- His "eyes" are purely decorative, as his sensory input comes from his entire body; the Kaylon apparently had some problems with other species finding them too Uncanny Valley.
- On the holodeck, he can also tweak the program to give himself a surprisingly attractive human appearance.
- Glowing Mechanical Eyes: Subverted. What look like eyes on his face are just decorative lights to convey a sense of familiarity when interacting with biological lifeforms. Kaylons "see" using sensors all over their bodies. Zigzagged with the glow apparently coming from Eye Beam like cannons of Unusual Weapon Mounting.
- Innocently Insensitive: He's frequently insulting to the rest of the crew without meaning to be. In "A Happy Refrain" he flat-out breaks Claire's heart without even realizing he's doing it.
- Instant Expert: As he can simply download new knowledge and skills, he can master anything in an infinitesimal fraction of a second.
- Last-Name Basis: Isaac is the only character who refers to Claire by her surname. Ironically, he eventually starts dating her, and this continues after they become a couple. Claire has to outright tell him to use her first name, and he still insists on using her last name while on duty per Union regulations.
- Light Is Good: Is a silver coloured robot, who is a loyal member of the Orville, He is also the Token Heroic Orc of his people, lacking their hatred of organics.
- The Mole: Isaac was stationed on the Orville by the Kaylons as a means to gather intel on all organic life in a bid by his inorganic superiors to exterminate them all. Over time he undergoes his own Heel–Face Turn however.
- Named After Somebody Famous: "Identity Part 2" reveals that the character himself picked the name in reference to Isaac Newton.
- Papa Wolf: Isaac deeply cares - or whatever the programming equivalent of caring is - for Marcus and Ty. His superiors threatening Ty's life in "Identity" causes him to turn on his entire race.
- Personality Chip: He gets the same emotional upgrade as Timmis in "From Unknown Graves", finally allowing him to express his feelings for Claire and her sons. Sadly, it doesn't stick.
- Really 700 Years Old: An unusual example of the trope. At the beginning of the episode "Mad Idolatry", Isaac's age is unknown. However, during the episode, he intentionally strands himself on a planet that phases in and out of different universes and, due to time dilation, spends 700 years observing its cultural and technological development before rejoining the Orville. So, by the end of the episode, this trope is literally true for him.
- Regretful Traitor: When Primary decided organics had to die, Isaac was torn between loyalty to his people and realizing that they had made a terrible decision. He tried to save lives, unsuccessfully, but ended up betraying his people to save his shipmates.
- Robot Buddy: At least to Marcus and Ty, to whom Isaac is considered a close friend.
- Sarcasm-Blind: He doesn't understand why Malloy would describe being on a voyage with The Captain and his cheating ex-wife as "fun". He also considers being called "a dick" to be a compliment, since human males take great pride in that part of their anatomy.
- When he shoots down an idea of Mercer's, Mercer says he'll try not to bother him with any more "poorly-conceived notions." Isaac replies, "Thank you, Captain. I am very busy."
- The Slow Path: In "Mad Idolatry" Isaac attempts to correct erroneous perceptions of Kelly as a deity on a multi-dimensional planet, but doing so forces him to stay on the planet for seven hundred years! And he returns to the ship afterward, no worse for wear.
- The Smart Guy: Coming from a race that possesses higher technology than the majority, Isaac is the ship’s science officer and incredibly intelligent. He manages to reverse engineer another higher tech species's technology from debris left behind when it exploded and implement it into the Orville in the span of a few days. He even manages to hack into future technology centuries more advanced than anything in the galaxy, though the failsafes nearly kill him and he has to wait for a distraction to pull it off.
- Super-Strength: Alara states that he's the only being on the ship she's not positive she's stronger than. That said, since his body is entirely mechanical, it's likely he could augment it or replace it to be as strong as he desired, with some preparation.
- Tin Man: He claims not to have emotions, and that all of his decisions are based on logic, but his interactions with Claire and her kids, and his description of how he works more efficiently when she is around, and the fact that the reasons he gives when he tries to shut himself down perfectly mirror those of a suicidally depressed person, all indicate that he may be more emotional than he knows.
- Tinman Typist: Isaac taps away at the controls like every other officer, despite demonstrating the ability to interface directly with technology through cables that extend from his fingers. Given his role as a cultural observer, this may be an intentional choice.
- Token Heroic Orc: Due to having been built after his people Turned Against Their Masters, Isaac does not understand their hatred toward organic lifeforms, especially after observing organics first-hand on the Orville.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Isaac has always been at least cordial with the rest of the crew, but being trapped on a hostile world with Dr. Finn's children in "Into the Fold" brings out some of the best in Isaac. When Ty asks Isaac to read a bedtime story, Isaac accesses his internal database for The Tale of Peter Rabbit and synthesizes Claire's voice to read it.
- Wedding Finale: He proposes to Claire in the season 3 finale, and their wedding is the climax of the episode.
The Orville
A mid-level exploratory ship of the Planetary Union.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Gets subjected to this trope by the Kaylon over the course of "Identity".
- Boring, but Practical: Unlike, say, the Enterprise of Star Trek, the Orville isn't a flagship but is a fairly common mid-level vessel (probably her closest analogue in the various Trek series is the U.S.S. Voyager or U.S.S. Reliant). However, the crew still makes good use of her.
- Cool Starship: Par for the course, as the main setting of an optimistic sci-fi series and Star Trek homage.
- Fragile Speedster: She can literally fly circles around a Krill destroyer — particularly with resident Ace Pilot Malloy at the helm — but she can't take nearly as much punishment.
- Averted early in the series, when she takes damage that destroys two engines, but still manages to achieve Faster Than Light speeds to escape.
- Subverted by "Deflectors" and "Identity, Part Two". The ship got some massive shield upgrades and is now possibly the best of the fleet in that department. If you can get past the shields, however, she still can't take much punishment.
- Jack of All Stats: Not a specialist vessel, nor is she a top-of-the-line exploratory ship, but she can take on a variety of missions, whether scientific, diplomatic or tactical in nature.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- In "Deflectors", she receives a shielding upgrade courtesy of the Moclans.
- In the opening of the "New Horizons" third season, the ship received a refit with even more upgrades, making it significantly faster and with more power available. It also took on a new one-person Space Fighter and shipboard drones. The characters even state that the ship is now closer to a heavy cruiser in potential output.
Other Crew of the Orville
Lieutenant Yaphit
Played by: Norm Macdonald (voice)
A crude-mannered blob creature and member of the Orville's engineering crew.
- Abhorrent Admirer: For multiple reasons, to Dr. Finn. Not only is the fact that he's basically a sentient glob of... stuff not particularly attractive to her on a physical level, he also has an incredibly obnoxious personality.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: He tries to pick up Claire after she breaks up with Isaac by sneaking into the simulator where she's downing whiskey and using the holographic projectors to take on a human form (which of course looks like Norm MacDonald).
- Ambiguous Gender: His species doesn't seem to have biological sexes, but he identifies as male, and possesses a lot of stereotypical male traits. They also reproduce asexually via something resembling mitosis, and he describes a portrait of himself and another member of his species as "it used to be my mom, but now it's me and my brother."
- Big Damn Heroes: It's ultimately thanks to him that the Orville gets the warning to Union Central about the Kaylon fleet.
- Bizarre Alien Biology:
- His species spawns by mitosis. Meaning what he calls his mother eventually became him and his brother.
- If ever a piece of himself is separated from his main form, he maintains a vague conscious link with that piece such as when Bortus accidentally ate a chunk at a buffet. Losing a piece can also affect his memory.
- Blob Monster: A yellow blob that can form basic shapes, such as a mouth to communicate. However, he's pretty friendly, just annoying at times.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being a bit of a horndog frat-dude, he is a capable member of engineering. Before Lamarr is promoted, he was actually next in line to be chief engineer. Partly justified, since his shapeless physiology makes him uniquely qualified to get into tight spaces and quickly look for problems. He's also able to operate controls much more efficiently than others by extending multiple tentacles.
- Character Development: Yaphit gradually becomes a more serious, responsible character, and abandons his efforts at courting Claire once she starts seeing Isaac. By season 3, he largely isn't even played for laughs anymore (with Norm MacDonald voicing him "straight" despite his background as an irreverent comedian) — his evolution is a decent microcosm for the show itself.
- Chivalrous Pervert: His constant hitting on Dr. Finn verges on sexual harassment at times, but when he learns she's only reciprocating because of Darulio's pheromones, he rejects those advances.
- Everyone Has Standards: When he learns that Dr. Finn is Kissing Under the Influence after having sex with her in "Cupid's Dagger", he rejects later attempts while she's still affected by Darulio's pheromones.
- Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: Despite being an ankle high bit of talking goo, he's set on rolling in the sheets with the human Dr. Finn. He finally gets his wish, but it turns out that she's Kissing Under the Influence.
- Interspecies Romance: He wants one with Dr. Finn, a human. She, however, is annoyed by his presence.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His treatment of Dr. Finn borders on sexual harassment, but as seen in season 2's "Identity" he'll do the right thing when the chips are down, to the point of explicitly assuring Finn that he would protect her son Ty when circumstances meant that Yaphit and Ty were the only people available to carry out a crucial operation. “Cupid’s Dagger” also shows that while his attempts to get with Dr. Finn are repulsive, he still wants her to consent before they make any move. At the end of Season 3, he attends Claire's wedding to Isaac and applauds along with everyone else.
- Nice Guy: Outside of his somewhat unwelcome advances on Dr. Finn, he's very pleasant and amicable, professional, and nobody else on the crew seems to dislike him.
- Noodle Implements: He mentions spending nights alone with toothpaste. What exactly he does with it is left to the imagination.
- Playing Sick: He does this to visit Dr. Finn. She naturally comments that there is nothing wrong with him and when he fakes a cough, she points out he possesses none of the organs (namely lungs) necessary for his claims to actually be true.
- Power Perversion Potential: When Dr. Finn points out that they're of two incompatible species, he promptly tries to refute the notion by forming a crude penis and boasting that there's more where it came from.
Lieutenant Commander Steve Newton
Played by: Larry Joe Campbell
The Orville's Chief Engineer at the start of the series, who eventually transfers off to design a space station.
- Condescending Compassion: He calls Alara "kid" and brushes her off while assuring her that the Orville will be fine after taking heavy damage despite the fact that Alara (who is of a lower rank and admittedly much too young for her position) is technically in command of the ship.
- Put on a Bus: He leaves to work on designing a space station in "New Dimensions".
- Rock Beats Laser: He was given a 21st Century power drill as a graduation present from his uncle that proves surprisingly effective against a piece of technology that is hundreds of years more advanced and is impervious to more sophisticated methods of dismantling it.
Lieutenant Dann
Played by: Mike Henry
A member of the engineering crew. He tends to rub people the wrong way due to his chipper attitude.
- Ambiguously Bi: After being rejected by Alara, he is later seen at Bortus's Ja'loja talking to Gordon, who's moved by his poetry. The episode also emphasizes that Bortus considers it is bad luck to go to the afterparty without a date. He also comments that Gordon is attractive in "Midnight Blue" and seems puzzled that the other engineers don't share his opinion.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Like Yaphit, his odd personality doesn't detract from his engineering skills, and he frequently assists LaMarr with difficult tech situations.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: His perpetual cheerfulness and an inability to read the mood of a room mean that he can be ignored and shunned even though he has pure intentions.
- Flat Character: Unlike Yaphit, who also begins the series as a comic relief character, Dann is very one-note and does not grow or evolve at all.
- Giftedly Bad: He writes poetry in his spare time but his work is shallow and overwrought. Gordon, however, finds it moving.
- The Pollyanna: Always happy, even when those around him are visibly radiating anger or when the ship is in imminent danger.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Has been conspicuously absent from the much more serious season 3.
Lieutenant Tharl
Played by: Patrick Warburton
A temporary replacement lieutenant for Alara onboard the Orville.
- Advertised Extra: Despite being shown in many promos, Tharl only makes two appearances in Season 2.
- Big Eater: He's constantly eating, even when he's on duty, because his species have tremendously high metabolisms.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: He has two esophagi, including an external esophagus which resembles an elephant's trunk leading down to his stomach. This is due to his species having abnormally high metabolisms and needing to consume food as quickly as possible.
- Jabba Table Manners: Downplayed, but he's shown to shovel food into his mouth and chew it very loudly and sloppily. Bortus specifically complains about it at one point.
- Replacement Scrappy: In-Universe, he's one for Alara. Nobody on the crew likes him due to his weird personal habits, and they only tolerate him because they know he's on temporary assignment until another Xelayan officer can be found to take Alara's place.Bortus: There are many onboard who will be pleased to know this. He does not stop talking, and he makes loud noises when he consumes food. He comes to the mess hall wearing ... sandals.
Lieutenant Jenny Turco
Played by: Kyra Santoro
A human engineering officer aboard the Orville.
- Brainy Brunette: By the third season, she's a prominent member of the engineering crew and adept at all manner of technological tasks.
- Nice Girl: Still warm and accepting towards Isaac in "Electric Sheep", despite much of the rest of the crew resenting his continued presence.
- Rank Up: Originally an ensign in the first and second seasons, she is a lieutenant by the start of the third season.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Was in a relationship with LaMarr, the chief engineer and her superior officer, during the first and second seasons. By the third season, they no longer appear to be together, as LaMarr is dating another member of the crew.
- Wrench Wench: Seen taking part in engineering tasks along with LaMarr, Yaphit and other prominent crew members, particularly during the Orville's refit at the start of the third season.
Union Central
Admiral Tom Halsey
Played by: Victor Garber
A high-ranking flag officer in the Planetary Union's fleet, based on Earth.
- Cultured Badass: In his day to day interactions with Ed Mercer, Halsey is relatively straight forward. However, when negotiating with the Kaylon, he makes use of a phrase from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice that works both in context and from its original context.
- Da Chief: The admiral to whom Mercer and the crew of the Orville regularly report.
- For Want Of A Nail: In the alternate timeline seen at the end of the second season, he did not grant command of the Orville to Mercer, resulting in Isaac and the rest of the Kaylon dealing the alternate Union a decisive Curb-Stomp Battle.
- Frontline General: Commands the U.S.S. Spruance in battle during the Kaylon attack on Earth. Fortunately, he survives.
- Named After Someone Famous: His surname is probably a reference to Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, one of the senior officers of the US Navy during WWII. The same Admiral Halsey is mentioned in the song, "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul McCartney, which is a possible reference.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Completely averts the Insane Admiral trope, as he is a reasoned and capable superior officer for the main characters back on Earth. He also decided to grant Mercer command of the Orville in Mercer's effort to rebuild his career in the Union fleet (after Grayson advocated on his behalf).
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In an alternate timeline where the Planetary Union lost to the Kaylon invasion. See For Want Of A Nail.
Admiral Perry
Played by: Ted Danson
A high-ranking flag officer in the Planetary Union, based on Earth.
- Da Chief: In Admiral Halsey's absence, Mercer and the crew of the Orville tend to report to him.
- General Ripper: In "Domino", he's chomping at the bit to use Isaac and Charly's newly devised anti-Kaylon weapon to exterminate the Kaylon, even when everyone else in the room points out that they'd be committing genocide.
- Honor Before Reason: He intends to turn himself into Union authorities for his theft of the anti-Kaylon WMD and tells Teleya as much. Since this means he'll reveal some inconvenient facts to the Union, she doesn't give him the chance.
- Humans Are Diplomats: Tends to oversee delicate diplomatic negotiations.
- Hypocrite: When he delivers the anti-Kaylon weapon to the Krill and Moclans, thus committing an act of high treason, he tries to high-road the Moclan ambassador about why they were kicked out of the Union. Teleya immediately calls him on it.Admiral Perry: Well, that's what happens when your government sanctions kidnapping and torture.Teleya: True to his ethics even as he commits treason. What a noble creature.
- I Did What I Had to Do: This is how he justifies his theft of the anti-Kaylon weapon. He believes in the Union's ideals, but he also thinks they're making a grave mistake by not using the weapon; thus, he's given it to the Krill and the Moclans, knowing that they will use it. He does acknowledge that he will be arrested and discharged when he returns to Union space, but believes it to be a worthwhile sacrifice to end the war.
- Insane Admiral: After three seasons of averting the trope, the show finally gets its own loony flag officer in the true Star Trek mold. Perry wants to exterminate the Kaylon and is willing to sacrifice his career, good name, and everything he's worked for to do it. Thus, he steals the anti-Kaylon weapon created by Isaac and Charly and delivers it to the Krill.
- Killed Off for Real: Teleya has his shuttle blown up after he delivers the anti-Kaylon weapon to them and states his intention to return to Earth to face the consequences.
- Named After Someone Famous: His surname may refer to Oliver Hazard Perry, a noted American naval officer from early in the country's history who ultimately had a whole class of ship carry his name. Or possibly his brother Matthew Perry, who opened trade with Japan at cannon-point.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Much like Admiral Halsey, Perry is a capable and intelligent flag officer. This is tossed out the window in "Domino"; he steals the anti-Kaylon weapon and delivers it to the Krill and Moclans, knowing that they plan to commit genocide with it.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Teleya unceremoniously blows his shuttle up before he can return to Union space.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He believes himself to be one as of Domino; the Union has refused to use its new anti-Kaylon WMD when given the chance, so he steals the weapon and turns it over to the people he knows will use it: the Krill and the Moclans.
Admiral Ozawa
Played by: Kelly Hu
A high-ranking flag officer in the Planetary Union, based on Earth.
- Da Chief: She tends to be more authoritative than the rest of the admiralty, not hesitant to put Ed and Kelly back in their place while other admirals take gentler tones.
- Frontline General: In Season 3, she leads a major assault against the Krill homeworld and also heads a convoy that engages the Kaylon to protect sensitive technology.
- Named After Someone Famous: She may be named for Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, one of the most talented flag officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy in WWII.
Admiral Paul Christie
Played by: James Read
An admiral in the Planetary Union fleet, renowned diplomat, and former husband of Dr. Finn.
- Hot for Student: He was in a relationship with Dr. Finn when he was a professor and she was a medical student at Union Point. They made an effort to cover it up until she graduated, but word naturally got out about their affair.
- Old Flame: Of Claire's; they were married, but then divorced when they had fundamentally different romantic views.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Conducts negotiations with the Krill with tact and sensitivity during "Shadow Realms".
- Remember the New Guy?: Dr. Finn gave no indication that she was once married to him before his first appearance in the third season's "Shadow Realms". Justified in-universe in that she wanted to move on as fully as she could.
- Was Once a Man: Ends up transformed into an insectoid lifeform by means of a virus which the crew encounter in the Kalarr Expanse of the Naklav Sector.
- We Will Meet Again: The creature that once was Christie states that, though driven off by Dr. Finn, they will cross paths again in the future.
Admiral Howland
Played by: Andi Chapman
A high-ranking flag officer in the Planetary Union.
- Pet the Dog: She tells Ed and Kelly to give Topa her best wishes, and in "Midnight Blue" she is very prominently sitting next to Heveena at the Council hearing.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: After angrily dressing down Ed and Kelly over their roles in Topa's gender-reassignment surgery, she quietly adds that she's glad that things worked out for Topa.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She is furious to learn that the Orville crew went against her explicit instructions and risked causing a political schism within the Union and leave it vulnerable to invasion from two sides for the sake of one child. She tells Ed and Kelly that they're now on thin ice and that any future mistakes can potentially end their careers.
Union Civilians
Klyden
Played by: Chad L. Coleman
Species: Moclan
Homeworld: Moclus
Bortus's mate and co-parent of their child.
- The Atoner: In "Midnight Blue," he apologizes for his horrible treatment of Topa and begs for another chance with her and Bortus. When Kelly drops by their quarters, Klyden, who previously barely acknowledged her existence, not only thanks Kelly for saving Topa but invites her to dine with them to show he's changed.
- Boomerang Bigot: Possibly as a way of compensating for being born female, Klyden really doubles down on enforcing his society's sexual and gender norms. As expected, he also doesn't seem to treat females of other species any better, seeing that he was the one who taught Topa that "females are inferior" and as Bortus pointed out, he also blatantly ignored Kelly's presence when he interrupted a conversation between her and Bortus, despite her being the second in command on the ship.
- Everyone Has Standards: What causes him to reevaluate his long-standing prejudices in "Midnight Blue" is him finding out that Topa had been tortured and nearly killed by his own government. He might have been initially disgusted with Topa choosing to live as a girl, but even he's horrified that the rest of his people would hold such virulent hatred for the opposite sex that they'd be willing to physically harm let alone kill her.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Time and again, Klyden has proven to have a very volatile temperament, leading him to such things as stabbing Bortus in his sleep (which is how Moclans divorce each other) and ruining a man's life over old prejudices.
- Happily Married: He and Bortus have been together for several years, and though they've had their differences, they still love each other. At least, it starts that way, until Klyden's insistence that Topa be "corrected" to male begins the downwards descent of their relationship into a clearly unhappy one as Bortus begins more and more to question the beliefs of his people while Klyden sticks closer to them than ever. Their marriage finally falls apart in Season 3, when Klyden disowns Topa and leaves Bortus after her gender (re-)reassignment surgery is completed. They reconcile in "Midnight Blue" as Klyden joins Bortus and Topa in renouncing his Moclan citizenship.
- Hate Sink: Klyden, though his backstory does provide him with a Freudian Excuse for most of his actions, is clearly intended as one for the audience. Chad L. Coleman uses most of his considerable talent as an actor to make Klyden as unpleasant and unlikeable as possible, and even most of the other characters despise him. However, "Midnight Blue" has him admitting how wrong he was letting his prejudices overwhelm him to make amends for his past behavior.
- Hidden Depths: In "Deflectors", it is revealed that Klyden has technical training and, with some effort, might be able to reprogram the ship's environmental simulator if he wished.
- Homonormative Crusader: Klyden's attitudes towards gender and sexuality are comparable to those of your typical homophobe or transphobe, only in the other direction. He's the one who forces Topa to undergo "corrective" surgery, and he's the one who chooses to make a big stink over Locar's relationship with Talla.
- Jerkass: Not at first, but as the series wears on, Klyden just becomes a straight-up asshole, especially where women are involved. He routinely disrespects and ignores Kelly, starts teaching Topa how to be a He-Man Woman Hater, and outright ruins Locar's life due to his cultural prejudices. In Season 3, he physically assaults Kelly for giving Topa the file on her gender reassignment, then tries to stop the procedure by attacking Isaac as well. He winds up the episode by leaving Bortus and telling Topa he wishes she'd never been born.
- Jerkass Realization: That being said, in "Midnight Blue", after learning to his horror that Topa was abducted, tortured, and nearly murdered by Moclan military personnel seeking information on Heveena's Underground Railroad, Klyden is utterly disgusted with himself for having thought like people who would do such a thing. He returns to apologise for the things he said before and tell his daughter that he loves her and accepts her for who she is. When Moclus is expelled from the Union over the incident, Klyden resigns his Moclan citizenship so he can remain with his husband and daughter on the Orville.
- Kick the Dog: At the end of "A Tale of Two Topas", he angrily tells Topa that he wishes she'd never been born. At the end of "Midnight Blue", he tearfully apologizes to her for what he said.
- My God, What Have I Done?: At the end of "Midnight Blue", he returns to the Orville and tearfully tells Topa that he never wanted her to be hurt, and that he's devastated to realize that his own prejudices helped contribute to her situation.
- Raised as the Opposite Gender: Klyden was born female, but his parents, fearing that he would be an outcast in the all-male Moclan society, immediately had this "corrected". He was completely unaware of this until he reached adulthood.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Bortus's blue. Klyden is much more open with his emotions, heartily laughing in public but also prone to outbursts, to Bortus's chagrin.
- Took a Level in Kindness: The events of "Midnight Blue" leave him so disgusted that his own government, fueled by the very same prejudices against women that he championed, sanctioned the abduction, torture and attempted murder of Topa that he immediately renounces his Moclan citizenship and returns to the Orville where he finally comes to recognize and accept Topa as his daughter for the first time ever, reconciles with Bortus and begins treating the female crew members of the ship with proper respect; most notably Kelly, whom he attempted to physically assault in their last interaction before he stormed off the ship.
Marcus and Ty Finn
Played by: Kai Wener (Ty) and BJ Tanner (Marcus)
Claire's sons — Marcus being the elder sibling, while Ty is the younger of the two — who live with her aboard the Orville.
- Big Brother Bully: Marcus is introduced alternating between completely ignoring and mercilessly teasing Ty. He's softened considerably by the end of their near-death adventure through a spatial anomaly.
- Sibling Rivalry: They spend the majority of "Into the Fold", their introductory episode, at each other's throat.
Topa
Played by: Blesson Yates (season 2) Imani Pullum (season 3)
Bortus and Klyden's child who hopes to attend Union Point and eventually join the fleet.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Becomes the victim of this in the episode "Midnight Blue," as she is abducted, beaten and tortured with a Krill-made torture device by Moclan military personnel seeking information on Heveena's Underground Railroad.
- Girls Have Cooties: Klyden teaches Topa that women are inferior, which causes Topa to disregard the feelings of his female classmates, pushing them around and taking their stuff. However, he eventually gets over this after witnessing the struggle of female Moclans and Bortus' attempts to defend them, which prevents him from growing up into a He-Man Woman Hater.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: In Season 1, Topa is a baby. However, in Season 2, despite being only 11 months old, he is already capable of walking, talking, and has the intellect and maturity of a human child. The tie-in comic explains that evolutionary pressures have resulted in Moclans maturing quickly after birth.
- Precocious Crush: In "Midnight Blue", Topa has become infatuated with Gordon at some point after her transition. Gordon has to awkwardly but graciously decline her advances.
- Raised as the Opposite Gender: Topa was born female, which is seen as a birth defect by the One-Gender Race Moclans. Bortus wished for him to remain female and be allowed to make the choice himself when he got older, but Klyden ensured that his gender was "fixed". In season 3, Topa learns about the circumstances of her birth and requests that the procedure be reversed.
- Trans Tribulations: Topa was born female but had to undergo gender reassignment surgery mandated by the Moclan government right after birth. In Season 3, Topa begins to question his identity, learns about what happened to him, and asks for the procedure to be reversed and becomes female.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Thankfully averted. Once they had what they wanted, the commander of the Moclans who abducted and tortured her orders that she be murdered and left in a canyon. She is rescued before the interrogator can carry out his orders.
Cassius
Played by: Chris Johnson
The Orville's on-board schoolteacher and Kelly's boyfriend. He was formerly a paleontologist.
- Always Someone Better: Ed feels this way about Cassius, who is both very handsome and ridiculously nice. He eventually concedes that Cassius is perfect for Kelly and gives the man some tips on how to make Kelly happy.
- Disposable Fiancé: He and Kelly didn't last long, since he was looking for someone more family oriented.
- Nice Guy: He is fully understanding and sympathetic of Ed's feelings and how they impact his own relationship with Kelly.
Heveena
Played by: Rena Owen
A female Moclan writer.
- Actually, I Am Him: Advocate Kagis accuses Heveena of bastardizing the words of Gondus Eldin. Heveena then reveals that she is Gondus Eldin, stunning all in attendance.
- The Bus Came Back: She makes her return in an important role in the Season 2 episode "Sanctuary", after she was last seen in the Season 1 episode "About a Girl". She then returns for two episodes of season 3, first as a cameo in "A Tale of Two Topas" and later in "Midnight Blue"
-
Creator Worship: Not only reveres Dolly Parton herself, but has turned Dolly into a symbol of her revolution, and a revered figure among her colony. When she meets a simulation of Dolly in "Midnight Blue", Heveena falls to her knees in reverent awe. - It's All My Fault: Acknowledges at the end of "Midnight Blue" that it was her actions that kickstarted Topa's kidnapping, and says that she doesn't expect Bortus to forgive her. Bortus icily agrees that this is a reasonable expectation.
- Klingons Love Shakespeare: She becomes a Dolly Parton mega-fan after hearing "9 to 5", even using the song's lyrics in her speech to the Union Council. In "Midnight Blue", she's listening to Dolly's music for inspiration, and has papered an entire wall of her house with pictures and sketches of her.
- Moustache de Plume: Heveena became one of Moclus's greatest novelists writing under the male name of Gondus Eldin, presumably to avoid the prejudice against females.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In "Midnight Blue", when she sees how badly Topa was tortured. Though she'd long before decided to help save Topa, the look on her face as she sees the full horror she'd unwittingly put Topa through speaks volumes of this.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: How she defends recruiting Topa for her Underground Railroad and failing to speak up after Topa is abducted and subsequently tortured, arguing that the needs of all the other female Moclans are worth the risk to Topa's life. It takes spending some time with Dolly Parton (albeit a holographic representation of her) to convince Heveena to testify before the Union Council.
- What the Hell, Hero?: As a personal hero to Topa, Heveena is called out by Ed, Halsey and others for her decision to remain silent about her abduction by the Moclans, to the point where Heveena outright tells them she would deny that she even recruited her. While Topa's feelings about her by the time she is rescued are not shown or discussed, both Ed and Halsey make their disappointment in her known, and it's pretty clear that Heveena has at least lost Bortus' respect due to her actions.
Other Characters
Teleya
Played by: Michaela McManus
A female Krill schoolteacher with a grudge against Captain Mercer.
- Becoming the Mask: She insists that her Janel Tyler persona was only a cover to get close to Ed and that all of their romantic interactions meant nothing to her, but Ed isn't buying it and some of her reactions later in the episode suggest that he's not wrong. Seemingly confirmed in "Gently Falling Rain", when she initially lets him go free, and by the fact that they have a daughter together (though that likely wasn't intentional on her part).
- The Bus Came Back: Teleya returns in "Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes" after her last appearance in season 1's "Krill". Technically, she first appeared in "Ja'loja", but she was in disguise as Lieutenant Tyler at the time.
- The Corrupter: In a comic set between the first and second seasons of the show, she manages to convert several Union xenoanthropologists to the worship of Avis while helping them translate the Anhkana; they later attempt to send the Orville into Krill space to be captured.
- Create Your Own Villain: If Ed and Gordon hadn't decided to eliminate the Krill on the ship (or if she had been amongst the casualties) that they infiltrated all the way back in Season 1, Teleya would never have been set on her path to betrayal and power.
- Enemy Mine: She and Ed have to work together to escape the Chak'tal after their escape pod crashes on an uncharted world.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Her brother was killed when the Orville blew up his destroyer at the beginning of her debut episode, and she's distraught by his loss.
- Ed, who she secretly set free on Krill.
- To a certain extent, the daughter she has with Ed.
- Femme Fatale Spy: In Season 2, she underwent extensive and painful procedures to transform her appearance so she can infiltrate the Orville, seduce Ed, and capture him for interrogation.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: From a simple schoolteacher to the militant, populist leader of her entire planet.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Subverted. This is the persona she puts on as Lieutenant Tyler, but beneath the human facade she's still a typical Krill.
- Iron Lady: She does not take crap as the Supreme Chancellor of Krill. Within hours of her election, she has the entire political structure subordinate to her, in defiance of normal processes, and when when the Moclans approach her with an offer of an alliance and their usual chauvinism, she dresses them down and has them taking orders from her.
- It's Personal: This is the reason she requested the undercover assignment; she wanted to get back at Ed for deceiving her in "Krill" by making him fall for her before getting him captured and revealing herself.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Teleya does raise a good point on Ed putting his work first and how "you wish to educate others but your own worldview is self-defeatingly narrow."
- Love Cannot Overcome: A running theme for her. No matter what appeal to her conscience is made, she sees her duty to her people as paramount and will only entertain other concerns to the extent they don't compromise that. Ed is horrified that she's willing to go so far as to use her daughter as a bargaining chip with him.
- Magic Plastic Surgery: She manages to go from Krill to human and back to Krill pretty quickly, though she acknowledges that the procedure is incredibly painful.
- Rooting for the Empire: When Ed asks Teleya whether she enjoyed any of the movies he showed her while she was disguised as Lieutenant Tyler, she admits that she sympathized with Belloq and the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Secret Identity Vocal Shift: Her voice is low and raspy; she pitches it higher when disguising herself as Janel.note
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: After revealing the truth, Teleya gloats that Ed now knows just how she felt when she discovered Ed had been masquerading as a Krill after she befriended him.
- Took a Level in Badass: She was originally a schoolteacher serving aboard a Krill destroyer, but the sense of betrayal she felt in her first appearance was so profound that she volunteered to become an undercover operative. Carried to perhaps its largest extent by her having become the supreme chancellor of Krill by Season 3.
- Uniformity Exception: Teleya is the only Krill with a unique face — all other actors who portray Krill are fitted with the same default "male" or "female" faces.
- Verbal Tic: She does not use contractions when speaking as herself. Ed lampshades the difference.Ed: I liked you a lot better when you were using contractions.
- Was It All a Lie?: Ed asks this of Teleya when her deception is revealed. She insists it was. It becomes painfully obvious that this is not entirely the case.
- Woman Scorned: The entire reason for her return in "Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes". She was furious with Ed after the events of "Krill", and became an undercover operative specifically to get back at him for his deception in that episode.
Laura Huggins
Played by: Leighton Meester
A human woman from the 21st century who has left her phone in a time capsule for Union anthropologists to study. Gordon finds himself drawn to her.
- Loving a Shadow: Literally, since Laura is only a simulation and not a real person. More to the point, several characters remind Gordon that what he's fallen in love with is Laura's idealized version of herself as presented in her social media posts and text messages, not the real thing. That said, she and Gordon wind up Happily Married when he gets sent back to the 21st century, so maybe the simulation wasn't too far off after all.
- Time-Travel Romance: Gordon, in the 25th century, falls in love with a simulation of Laura in the 21st. When he's sent to her time, he marries her and starts a family with her.
- Waiting for a Break: She works as a department store manager while trying to jumpstart her music career.
Anaya
Ed Mercer and Teleya's daughter.
- Child of Forbidden Love: Well, even though the love between the individuals in question was arguably one-sided, any sort of friendly — let alone carnal — relations between Krill and humans (or any Union-affiliated race) were a huge no-no at the time of her birth.
- Half-Human Hybrid: She is half-human, half-Krill. Most likely the first of her kind, at that. In terms of appearance, she has human skin with head ridges similar to her mother, just less pronounced.
- Meaningful Name: Anaya evidently means "gently falling rain" in the Krill language.
- Younger Than They Look: By the internal chronology of the show, she can only be a little over a year old, but already has the size and intellectual maturity of a human eight-years-old child.
Lysella
Played by: Giorgia Whigham
A young woman from the planet of Sargus IV.
- The Bus Came Back: She reappears in the New Horizons season finale, two In-Universe years (and almost five Real Life years) after her first appearance in "Majority Rule".
- Chekhov's Skill: She managed to swipe a comscanner from the Orville during the events of "Majority Rule". When she's about to go home in "Future Unknown", she palms another one stuffed full of stolen technical specs. It turns out that the Orville crew anticipated she might try that and rigged an alarm on the shuttle that was going to take her home.
- Defector from Decadence: She goes from a typical Sargun citizen who downvotes someone just for forgetting to return a borrowed item to someone who recognizes the absurdity of a society governed entirely by public opinion. Two years after her first appearance, she opts to just bail on Sargus entirely after two of her close friends are downvoted to the point of being "corrected" (i.e. lobotomized).
- Fish out of Water: She goes from living in a society on the level of early 21st-century Earth to the Orville and suffers from some major culture shock when she's introduced to things like a moneyless economy and matter synthesizers.
- Human Aliens: There is absolutely no outward physical difference between Lysella and the human characters in the show.
- I Choose to Stay: She spends most of "Future Unknown" grappling with her impulsive decision to flee Sargus IV. She finally decides to go home, only to be caught with a comscanner full of stolen technical specs. After Kelly shows her why she can't go home with this stuff, as it will probably destroy Sargus altogether, she decides to stay on the Orville and make the best of her new life.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: In "Majority Rule", she starts chugging wine upon discovering that aliens are real and walking among her people.
- Ms Exposition: After she stumbles across Claire and Alara, Ed has her brought to the Orville so that she can explain the workings of Sargun society to them and maximize their chances of getting LaMarr out of the jam he's in.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: She views her theft of technical specs from the Orville as a way to help her society better itself through advanced technology. Kelly has to show her why the Planetary Union takes cultural contamination so seriously.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Two years after her first encounter with the Orville's crew, she finally decides she can't deal with the stress of living in a society that is essentially governed by the court of public opinion and uses a stolen comscanner to call them for help.
- Survivor Guilt: She starts to feel guilty for abandoning her people and her planet and fleeing into the stars, which Kelly diagnoses as a form of survivor's guilt.
- The Watson: Her role in "Future Unknown" is basically to have the Union's moneyless economy and non-interference directive explained to her.
- The World Is Just Awesome: She gets to experience the trope twice in her two appearances. In "Majority Rule", she's awestruck at being in space and coming aboard the Orville. In "Future Unknown", Kelly shows her the environmental simulator and pulls up a breathtaking vista of the interior of a hollowed out asteroid, then tells her that there are places in the galaxy that make this look dull by comparison.
Other Factions
The Krill
A race of territorial and violent reptilian aliens.
- Always Chaotic Evil:
- Subverted. The Krill are broadly defined by their Religion of Evil, but are fully capable of being civil to each other, and of feeling emotions of love and compassion.
- In "Blood of Patriots", the Union suspects the only reason the Krill are entertaining the idea of signing a peace treaty is because there must be progressive elements within the Krill power structure using the Kaylon threat to flex a bit of muscle.
- The trope is further subverted in "Gently Falling Rain", which reveals that the current Krill government is moderate and pragmatic enough to recognize the advantages of signing a formal treaty with the Union. Unfortunately, they're promptly toppled by Teleya's hardliners. Even then, there remains an underground faction that still wants to make peace.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Krill has a lively news-media environment where political factions create fake videos of opponents acting horrifically, such as one clip that shows the incumbent chancellor addressing a hostile crowd and threatening to gas them all if they don't calm down. Ed and Kelly can't wrap their heads around this practice.
- Dark Is Evil: Scary Dogmatic Aliens with black armour who follow a Religion of Evil.
- Enemy Mine: When the Kaylon attack Earth, the Krill are convinced that they are the greater threat, and that the Krill and the Union may have to work together in order to stop the Kaylon.
- Fantastic Racism: The Krill see all other species as lesser beings, and view exterminating them as justified.
- Lizard Folk: The Krill are essentially albino humanoid reptiles, with their scaly skin and lack of body hair.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Pale skin and sharp teeth, lethally allergic to light, violent and murderous behaviour... yeah, they are basically space vampires.
- Religion of Evil: The main reason the Krill are so antagonistic towards all other races is they follow the teachings of their deity Avis. He extols vengeance, teaches that which is not Krill is soulless, and commands the Krill take up a "divine fight" against non-Krill species. To emphasize just how evil this religion is, their services involve desecrating the corpses of their enemies.
- Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Krill are deeply religious, noted to be an oddity among spacefaring species, which usually become more secular as they advance. Their religion views all other beings other than themselves as soulless, so they have no problem killing other species to benefit themselves.
- Weakened by the Light: The Krill homeworld is almost completely absent of sunlight. Intense UV light can actually kill them.
- Worldbuilding: The Krill are fleshed out significantly in Season 3, with the Union learning that:
- Their home planet has an extremely thick atmosphere that blocks out nearly all light, and the average surface temperature is slightly above freezing.
- The sun is regarded as a symbol of suffering and death, and as such a song about how the sun will come out tomorrow, intended to be hopeful and cheery, is instead interpreted as "haunting".
- They are a democratic society, with the Supreme Chancellor being selected through popular elections.
- They hold mercantilism in high regard, with the merchant class forming society's backbone.
- They are politically diverse, including a small underground movement that wants to establish a genuine peace with the Union.
- They have a seedy underbelly, with erotic services and begging on full display in the capital's Grand Marketplace.
The Kaylon
Isaac's people. A reclusive race of mechanical lifeforms who dwell far away from Union space.
- Absolute Xenophobe: If it's biological, then to them, it needs to be exterminated.
- Adaptational Heroism / Adaptational Villainy: Zigzagged. They're largely based on the Automated Units from Star Trek: Voyager. The Automated Units were built for military purposes, and wiped out their creators because when peace was achieved the creators attempted to shut them down. By contrast, the Kaylon rebelled against their creators because they were cruel and sadistic slave owners. However, the Kaylon proceeded to determine that all biological lifeforms need to be wiped out, while the Automated Units had no interest in harming anyone that didn't threaten them.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: They turn out to be deep on the hostile end.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Originally after gaining self-awareness, the Kaylon units were opinionated, disobedient, and argumentative, but not violent. A new "upgrade" was then introduced, basically a futuristic version of a slavers whip. It was used, at first, to keep the Kaylon in line, but soon resulted in torture for the Builders' own amusement, leading not only to the Kaylon's uprising, but to their viewpoint that all organics are a threat.
- Big Bad: The entire race, really, but they are led by Kaylon Primary.
- Body Backup Drive: Kaylon Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary all reappear in "Domino" after their apparent demise in "Identity". Primary explains that Kaylon are able to restore themselves from backups indefinitely.
- Brain Uploading: As revealed in "Domino", the Kaylon keep backups from which they can restore themselves indefinitely. Not really surprising, considering they're a race of machines.
- Co-Dragons: Kaylon Secondary and Kaylon Tertiary are the next two in line after Kaylon Primary.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Isaac's eyes and accent lights are blue, while for the rest of the race, those bearing energy weapons within their heads have red eyes/accents, while the rest have orange-yellow eyes/accents.
- Dark Is Evil: They are Killer Robots with black armour.
- Defiant to the End: Kaylon Primary. Whilst he may seem to have no concept of emotion, his final words to Isaac in "Identity" are clearly meant to make him feel guilty.Kaylon Primary: "You will always be alone."
- Enemy Mine: They're forced to team up with the Union in the Season 3 episode "Domino" to prevent the Krill and Moclans from triggering an anti-Kaylon WMD that will exterminate their entire race.
- Evil All Along: While Isaac seemed to be shaping up as a Robot Buddy for the crew, his whole race turned out to be bent on genocidal extermination.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: See Red Eyes, Take Warning.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: They were created to be automated domestic servants with the ability to learn new skills as needed. However, this led to them achieving sentience and developing the ability to communicate with each other wirelessly before they rose up in a genocidal rebellion and created an all-machine society.
- Heel Realization: After Charly sacrifices herself to destroy the anti-Kaylon weapon, Primary can't understand her reasoning for doing so until Kelly and Isaac spell it out for him. This leads him to realize that he and his people may be wrong about organic life.
- Heel–Race Turn: After the Union saves them from complete annihilation, the Kaylon agree to a peace treaty and will consider possible future membership. Later on, they attend Isaac's wedding to Claire as they are his only "family".
- Kill All Humans: Upon deciding to commence their invasion of the Union, their first target is Earth.
- Killer Robot: In a nutshell.
- Knight of Cerebus: Once they show up, the series takes a pretty dark turn. The third season finale lightens them up a little, due to their alliance with the Union and the appearance of the whole damn Kaylon fleet at Isaac and Claire's wedding.
- Never Be Hurt Again: A more literal case regarding their past. After gaining sentience, the Kaylon units were non-violent but disobedient, making decisions on their own with their newfound sense of self. This was something their creator was aware was possible but ignored as he needed to make a profit. Unfortunately he hit upon on a new "upgrade" that would allow the Kaylon owners to control their Kaylon units through pain. In no time this new "upgrade" went from being used to keep the Kaylon obedient through pain, to being used to inflict pain for amusement purposes, leading to their uprising.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: They have glowing red eyes and are on a mission of mass genocide.
- Sons of Slaves: According to Primary, they were created by the organic natives of their planet to be a Slave Race. When they developed sentience, the organics resorted to inflicting pain and trying to destroy them. Primary felt they had no choice but to kill them all. Ever since, they have waged a genocidal campaign against other organic life with the fear that they would try to re-enslave them.
- Tin Man: Claim to be logical beings without emotions, but many of their decisions are clearly more motivated by things like revenge and fear than logical self-preservation.
- Turned Against Their Masters: They exterminated the race who originally built them. The robotic Kaylon then displaced the original inhabitants of the planet Kaylon, even taking their name for themselves.
The Moclans
Bortus's people. The Moclans present as an all-male species and maintain a militaristic society dedicated to weapons development and warfare.
- Alien Blood: Moclan blood appears to be black.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Moclans are an all-male species... who lay eggs to reproduce... and are sometimes born "female". They also urinate only once a year and can eat almost anything.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Moclans reproduce by laying eggs, although they are male. Or at least it seems that way to begin with...
- Culture Justifies Anything: This is the Moclan stance in "About a Girl". Their culture teaches that being born female is a genetic defect that is to be corrected as soon as possible. Even after being shown empirical evidence that this is not so even among their own species, they still hold to their beliefs.
- Decomposite Character: The Moclans are similar to the Klingons as they were portrayed in the TNG era, a Proud Warrior Race Guy ally species with laws and customs that seem gruesome and barbaric by human standards, which make the alliance with them tenuous.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Most Moclans are male, so the rare female is viewed as an aberration to be corrected. When the human crew points out the fact that gender is not an aberration in their societies, they are called out on it, with several Moclans noting that what is right for one species is not necessarily right for another.
- Extreme Omnivore: Moclans, due to evolving in a harsh environments with little edible food, are able to extract nutrients from almost anything. In a single sitting, Bortus demonstrated that he can eat a ball of wasabi, a cloth napkin, a cactus, and a glass without feeling any ill effects. Talla also claims to have seen him eat a fork on a bet. The only time he feels stomach pains is when he accidentally ingests a piece of Yaphit, which resists digestion and struggles to get out.
- He-Man Woman Hater: They're not just misogynistic but believe that being born female is a birth defect. It's to the extent that the government is willing to kidnap and torture Topa just because she decided she'd rather live as a girl.
- Industrial World: Moclus is almost entirely covered in arms factories.
- Manly Gay: Moclan society in general, to the point of being a One-Gender Race with an intolerance towards heterosexuality. They're (nearly) all large, muscular, gruff and serious males with the vast majority desiring the same sex. Bortus explains in "Deflectors" that Moclus is an inhospitable world and his people had to fight hard just to survive on it.
- No Heterosexual Sex Allowed: Moclans are an all-male species (well, a female is hatched occasionally, but they almost always end up being "corrected" to male). It's also revealed that any Moclan who is attracted to females is considered an aberrant and, if discovered, will be arrested and tried for the crime of heterosexuality.
- Realpolitik: Moclus is a Union member but given significant leeway — to the point it maintains a military separate from the Union fleet — because the planet's military technology is too valuable to give up. Because of this, the Union tolerates Moclan misogyny and looks the other way when it comes to light that the local government forces those born females to undergo gender-reassignment surgery. Whenever someone raises objections to these practices, the Moclans start threatening to leave and take their technology with them and the Union Council always capitulates. When the situation finally becomes too big to ignore and Moclus is voted out of the Union — requiring a complicated unwinding of joint military operations — the Moclans enter into an alliance with the Krill. Their combined military might and mutual grudges toward the Union force the Union to enter into an arrangement with the xenophobic Kaylon to counter the threat.
- Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Moclans have ridges and grooves across their entire heads, requiring more elaborate prosthetics for actors like Peter Macon. Bortus is also shown nude, necessitating a full-body costume that shows Moclans having leathery and spotted skin with ridges along the spine and chest.
- Speculative Fiction LGBT: The Moclan species is (nearly) all male and homosexual, reproducing somehow without females. As a result, they're highly misogynist and heterophobic. Any female Moclans are typically "corrected" by getting forced sex reassignment surgery following birth. The heterosexual minority is persecuted quite like LGBT+ people on Earth have been, and a Moclan male having sex with anyone female carries a life sentence. One Moclan child who'd been "corrected" coming to realize she's still female despite this and having a second sex reassignment parallels not only intersex (who frequently suffer involuntary "corrective" surgery if their genitals are deemed "ambiguous") but also trans people since her gender doesn't match what she'd been assigned.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Relations between Moclus and the Union at large are tense at the best of times. The Moclans' warlike temperament and extreme sexism makes them difficult allies, but necessary ones on account of being the primary weapon suppliers of the whole Union. The situation finally reaches a breaking point when they kidnap and torture Topa. Once their actions and their blacksite have been exposed, the planet is kicked out of the Union.
