Seth MacFarlane says The Orville has not been canceled, adding the Hulu sci-fi series is "still with us," despite rumors that Season 4 might not happen.
No, “come back” could mean a lot of things - it could mean it’s on hiatus, it could mean it’s between seasons, or it could mean that it’s cancelled.
Having a creator and network that doesn’t want to come back to it would mean it is dead. However not being cancelled means the network is open to it returning, and the creator has said he wants to come back to it, so no, it is not dead.
And Firefly is a horrible comparison because that show was literally cancelled. And even then, it’s only one example of a show that didn’t come back, and I made no claim that all shows that want to come back will get the opportunity.
If the Willow reboot was anything to go by, Disney can't be trusted to do Firefly 2.0 justice. I'm sad it died all those years ago, but let it rest with dignity.
Remember that Seth brought Family Guy back from cancellation, like, three times. He's not someone you hand wave away when he's determined to do something.
It literally came back because of a letter-writing campaign. And at a time when the show was at odds with Fox executives.
And that was the age of home media. This is the age of streaming. The Orville, last I heard, is getting good traffic on Hulu and Disney+. So much do that Disney+ spotlighted it last year on their main page.