Seth MacFarlane is now (and may always be) best known as the man behind his massive animated hit shows Family Guy and American Dad. MacFarlane's creations now rival The Simpsons and South Park in terms of longevity and staying power in pop culture. But MacFarlane is more than that, as evidenced by his live-action love letter to Star Trek aka The Orville.

The series, which as of this writing has run for a total of three seasons, premiered on Fox in 2017. "The Orville" later moved to Hulu for its third seasonwhich probably changed the show for the better, but that's a whole other question. During the show's second season, when it was still on Fox, it actually featured a cameo from none other than action maestro Bruce Willis. So viewers would be forgiven for not noticing.

Willis lent his talents to the episode titled "Deflectors", which was the seventh episode of season 2, which aired on Valentine's Day 2019. It feels fitting given what happens in said episode. A famous Moklus engineer is seen coming aboard the Orville to upgrade the ship's deflectors. Hence the title. He tells Tala (Jessica Sor) that he is attracted to her. However, being attracted to women frowned upon Moklus, resulting in a prison sentence.

As part of the episode's B-plot, Kelly (Adrian Palicki) broke up with Cassius (Chris Johnson). An old friend of Cassius named Grogan, who is essentially a large alien flower from an alien race known as a Catrudian, sneaks aboard the Orville to try to convince Kelly to give him another chance. That alien flower is voiced by none other than Die Hard and Armageddon star Bruce Willis himself.

The above clip gives a taste of what Willis had to offer The Orville. On the one hand, he sounds a lot like the actor many of us have come to know and love. On the other hand, because he's so relaxed and obviously having fun, it's a little hard to pin down at first without telling who he is. That's partly what makes it such a fun cameo, but it's also what makes it a fun late-era addition to the actor's impressive career.

Willis is largely known for his action roles thanks to his breakout role in Die Hard. However, great things happened in his career when he stepped out of that zone. "The Sixth Sense", which is one of the biggest hits of his careeris a great example. So, as brief as the role is, MacFarlane giving Willis room to flex his comedic muscles as an alien flower is quite a change of pace.

Over the past few years, Willis has been increasingly associated with direct-to-video action films, which have often been less than stellar, to put it kindly. A lot of it had to do with the actor wanting to put in and work as hard as he could, while he could. In 2022, it was announced that Willis was retiring from acting following his Aphasia diagnosis. That being the case, this brief, odd little role somehow feels a little more special, with the benefit of hindsight.

"The Orville" is streaming now on Hulu, or you can grab the show on DVD from Amazon.