This A-list movie star just made the most epic surprise cameo on 'The Orville'

Kylie Mar
·Host & Producer, Yahoo Entertainment

On this week’s episode of The Orville, the crew discovered a mysterious drifting vessel with an even bigger discovery within it.

After analyzing the ship, Captain Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) and his team discovered that the 2,000-year-old ship housed an inactive engine and was headed straight towards a star. So they had no choice but to make contact with its inhabitants to help them reroute their course and avoid destruction.

Unfortunately, the residents were not very welcoming. It turns out they were completely unaware that they were on board a spacecraft and unwilling to believe anything outside of the beliefs set forth by their almighty creator, Dorahl. While Captain Mercer luckily met a group of “reformers,” a sort of rebel alliance that believed there is more to the universe than they can see, Commander Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki) was not so lucky. She found herself captured by Hamelac, the First Guardian of the Word of Dorahl and the dictator in charge of making all law. “Our vessel encountered yours drifting in space, and we’re trying to help you before you fall into that star and get your nuts burned off,” said Grayson. Hamelac responded, “You’re lying, because there is no such place.”

Despite the setbacks, eventually the Orville crew managed to find the ship’s main bridge and a recording left by the last occupant — who might actually be a greater discovery than the ship itself and also might have a very particular set of skills … Liam Neeson.

It is revealed that the ship’s almighty creator, Dorahl — portrayed awesomely by the A-list movie star — built the vessel 2,000 years ago as a means to attempt to visit another planet. “Our world is remote, and we knew that a journey to even the nearest habitable world would take over a century. Three generations would live out their lives on board this bio-vessel. The third would be the one to reach our destination,” revealed Hamelac. He continued, “But we were hit by an ion storm, and we’ve been unable to restart our engines. Unless we encounter help, we are doomed to drift indefinitely, for space is vast and very dark and very lonely.”

The appearance of Neeson — known for being a badass dad whose daughter you definitely do not want to take — on this week’s Orville is one of the best surprise cameos of the year. And next week, MacFarlane reunites with his other A Million Ways to Die in the West co-star, Charlize Theron.

The Orville airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Fox. Watch clips and full episodes of The Orville free on Yahoo View.

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