NYCC 2017: Scott Grimes & Adrianne Palicki On ‘The Orville,’ Seth MacFarlane [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]

Actors Scott Grimes and Adrianne Palicki try to live up to Seth MacFalane‘s comedic chops in his hour-long sci-fi dramedy The Orville.

SCOTT GRIMES & ADRIANNE PALICKI ON THE ORVILLE

“It was a great challenge at first for me to just do what I knew he could do himself,” Grimes explained. “He can’t play all the characters, so it was my job to be as good as he would be as Gordon.” Palicki chimed in with the same sentiment. “I tried to be as good as he would be as Kelly, and that’s hard to do, so I feel the exact same way.”

Grimes has already worked with MacFarlane on American Dad, and the pair seem compatible. In The Orville, he plays Lt. Gordon Malloy, the helmsman of the ship and MacFarlane’s character Capt. Ed Mercer’s best friend. Palicki plays Cmdr. Kelly Grayson, who also happens to be MacFarlane’s character Capt. Ed Mercer’s ex-wife.

“The one thing that I love that’s coming up and it’s not so much individual, is the crew kind of explores places together. In one of our last episodes, we all go down to a planet together,” Grimes says of what his favorite parts of the season are.

Palicki adds, “It’s not only the fact that we get to do a lot of things together, but you’re gonna see a lot of characters that have not been developed yet are gonna have their own arcs and you’re going to see a lot of different people together, and the entire crew is gonna seen in a unique new way, and I think that’s gonna be some of the fun.”

The Orville airs on Fox Thursday nights at 9 p.m.