The Orville season 3 episode 8 delivers big Dolly Parton cameo!

Entering The Orville season 3 episode 8, we were absolutely expecting a big episode in “Midnight Blue.” However, we never imagined a Dolly Parton cameo happening in a million years. Even though the country-music icon has been baked into the lore of the show as an essential influence of Heveena, we had just assumed it was a fun bit, and a way to reference one of the most beloved modern-day celebrities even on a show set far in the future.

Then, we saw Haveena guided to the simulator and within there, she actually met Dolly herself — or, at least a composite of Dolly built up of historical records and data. Of course, this version of her was played by none other than the singer herself!

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Given that Dolly Parton is at the point in her career where she can be choosy in whatever she wants to do, we have to imagine that there were a lot of conversations between her and Seth MacFarlane / The Orville team convincing her to come on board for this spot. It’s beyond cool that she was game to play herself in such a unique way.

In a post on Twitter (see below), MacFarlane noted that Parton and her side of the conversation scenes were filmed all the way in Nashville. Meanwhile, Heveena’s side were filmed back in Los Angeles, where the show regularly shoots. With that being said, we also know that Rena Owen herself did travel to Nashville to meet Dolly in the flesh as well — there was a lot of magic that went into making it look like the singer and Heveena were in the same place the entirety of the conversation.

What we love about this cameo first and foremost is that it was relevant to the story — Heveena needed to hear from Dolly in order to contemplate her next move in regards to Topa. Meanwhile, we really hope that this is the sort of thing that gets more people excited about The Orville. We desperately want a season 4, and this is another great example of MacFarlane and the whole team doing a great job when it comes to guest casting. Remember that over the years we’ve seen big names like Victor Garber and the voice of the late, great Norm Macdonald.

Related – Be sure to get some more news when it comes to The Orville right now

 Were you shocked by the Dolly Parton cameo on The Orville season 3 episode 8?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! Also, come back around for some further updates the rest of the way. (Photo: Hulu.)