WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Solar Opposites season 4!

Summary

• Solar Opposites season 4 features a major change with Korvo's voice being permanently replaced by Dan Stevens, but the new voice actor fits the role perfectly.
• The Wall subplot in Solar Opposites season 4 continues to explore dark and grim storylines, drawing inspiration from The Handmaid's Tale and Game of Thrones.
• Solar Opposites season 4 showcases a more focused character arc for Jesse, who gains independence and agency throughout the season, while also justifying the decision to steer away from sci-fi themes in the show's formula.

Now that Solar Opposites season 4 has arrived, it turns out that more than Korvo’s voice actor has changed. Solar Opposites debuted in 2020. The Hulu sci-fi comedy immediately drew comparisons to Adult Swim’s earlier hit Rick and Morty thanks to the show’s sci-fi themes and the presence of Rick and Morty's co-creator Justin Roiland on its cast list. However, Solar Opposites is a lighter, sillier series than Rick and Morty. The story of a zany family unit who arrive on Earth and bumble through civilian life, Solar Opposites is gory and R-rated but also cartoony and low on dramatic stakes.

While Solar Opposites earned positive reviews throughout its first three seasons, the series never reached Rick and Morty’s impressive levels of popularity. Solar Opposites season 4 replacing Justin Roiland in a lead role seemed like it could hurt the standing of the series, given that Roiland played a major character. However, when Dan Stevens was announced as Roiland’s replacement, the star proved to be a surprisingly perfect fit for the part. Despite this, the twist ending of Solar Opposites season 4 seems to imply that this could be the show’s last outing, which was one of the season's biggest reveals among others.

8 Korvo’s Original Voice Is Gone For Good

The first big revelation from Solar Opposites season 4 came in the form of a meta-gag in the season premiere. In the cold open of Solar Opposites season 4, episode 1, “The Ping Pong Table,” Korvo’s voice was changed via a mishap involving throwing darts and a voice-changing ray. Like Rick and Morty season 7, Solar Opposites will be getting rid of Justin Roiland’s roles in the series permanently. After Dan Stevens took over Korvo’s voice, his first lines included a goofy pseudo-scientific explanation justifying his changed voice in flashbacks and telling viewers not to complain about the change. After that, it was clear Stevens was here to stay.

7 The Wall’s Civil War Gets Even Darker

Since the first season of Solar Opposites, the show has sustained a dark drama within its goofy comedic story. While Solar Opposites is a silly sitcom, the tale of "The Wall" is a grim action-adventure serial set in a wall filled with shrunken humans located in Jesse (Mary Mack) and Yumyulack’s (Sean Giambrone) bedroom. The Wall has been home to some of the show’s darkest storylines and this is still true in Solar Opposites season 4. While the subplot still has shades of Game of Thrones, The Wall mainly seems to parody The Handmaid’s Tale in season 4’s bleak story of bloody religious fundamentalism.

6 AISHA Has A Romantic Human Relationship

While the characters of Solar Opposites have relied on their ship’s sentient supercomputer AISHA for years, the series rarely stopped to see how she was doing. That changed in season 4, episode 3, “The Mobile AISHA Emitter.” A sweet romantic episode, this outing largely forgot about the Solar Opposites themselves as the show followed AISHA’s eventful date with her human beau. Surprisingly tender and poignant but still as silly as ever, “The Mobile AISHA Emitter” proves that Solar Opposites has range when it comes to the show’s tone.

5 Solar Opposites Season 4 Gives Jesse More Focus

Whether it is a plot about her betraying Yumyulack when he abandons her or a story of her creating a giant Super Goobler with her emotions, Jesse gets a lot more focus in Solar Opposites season 4. In the early seasons of the series, Jesse and Yumyulack mostly stumbled from one Solar Opposites movie parody to another, but by season 4 Jesse had a well-defined character arc of her own. She began the season overly reliant on her brother for companionship but eventually learned to stand up for herself against Korvo’s bullying, gaining agency and independence along the way.

4 Solar Opposites Season 4 Justifies Its New Premise

Solar Opposites season 4 opened with the main characters vowing to avoid more sci-fi-themed stories in what was clearly an attempt to change the show’s formula. However, this switch was justified in-universe. Terry and Korvo tried to actively steer clear of sci-fi stories since they wanted to give the Pupa a normal environment, but later Terry itted that he doesn’t understand science and therefore couldn’t contribute to sci-fi plots. This choice made sense for the show since Solar Opposites is effectively a zany R-rated family sitcom. The series doesn't really need its sci-fi trappings, even though its heroes are aliens.

3 The Mission Isn’t Going Anywhere

While the Mission was what got the Solar Opposites to Earth in the first place, it is not a major factor in season 4’s story. The main characters even itted that it has been entirely abandoned when Yumyulack criticized Korvo’s mentions of the Mission as “So 2020.” Much like Futurama’s season 11 revival didn’t focus on Planet Express’s work in its opening episodes, Solar Opposites season 4 wasn’t interested in centering what was ostensibly the original premise of the series. This was no great loss for the show since the most inspired storylines in Solar Opposites season 4 had nothing to do with the Mission.

2 Solar Opposites Season 4 Has Two Potential Spinoff Shows Now

While The Wall has always played a huge part in the story of every Solar Opposites season, the show also started another potential spinoff back in season 3 which season 4 continued in style. "Silvercops" got an entire episode to itself in season 4, as did The Wall plot line. Both stories also got significant chunks of other episodes dedicated to them. While it was hardly new for Solar Opposites to drop the show’s original premise in favor of a zany adventure (after all, The Wall subplot started way back in season 1), this seemed more significant given the events of the season finale.

1 The Solar Opposites Become Human In Solar Opposites Season 4

In the Solar Opposites season 4 finale, the Solar Opposites became human and gave up on leaving Earth. This risked the entire premise of the series, although it seemed inevitable that they would eventually return to their old selves. However, once they could have gone back to normal, they instead left Earth seemingly for good in what may well be the last scene of the series. In the final moments of Solar Opposites season 4, the eponymous heroes took up residence on a new alien planet and left Earth behind. However, only time will tell whether this is really the end of Solar Opposites.