Orson Hodge
Orson Hodge is a fictional character on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. The character is played by Kyle MacLachlan. Orson is introduced in the final episodes of the second season of the series, and becomes the main mystery of the third season. MacLachlan left the main cast in season six, but he has made guest appearances after his departure.
Development and casting
The character of Orson Hodge was originally planned as a romantic interest for Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), according to executive producer Tom Spezialy, until Cherry decided to pair Orson with Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross). For the third season's mystery, series creator Marc Cherry wanted to incorporate more of the series' regular characters rather than bringing in various new ones, like they had done in the second season with Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) and her family. They developed the Orson plot line around the "idea that one of our women marries a guy who has dark secrets and possibly a violent streak." Cherry opined: "I thought there was something exciting about that, but real and relatable." Greenstein commented that the writers worked backwards from the second season's cliffhangers to develop the Orson storyline, forsaking the original material that had been developed earlier. The cast responded positively to the new material for the season.