Palicki appeared as
Kara/Lindsay Harrison in the season 3 finale of
Smallville in 2004. The same year she played Judy Robinson in
John Woo's unsold pilot
The Robinsons: Lost in Space. In 2005, she appeared in
Supernatural as Jessica Moore,
Sam Winchester's doomed girlfriend who is killed by a demon in its
pilot episode. The character reappears in the
Supernatural season 2 episode, "What Is and What Should Never Be", and the season 5 episode "Free to Be You and Me". In 2006, Palicki also appeared in
The WB pilot Aquaman as the evil Nadia. The pilot was not picked up for series by
The CW network, a result of The WB and
UPN network merger, which occurred while the pilot was being filmed. Palicki was a series regular on the first three seasons of
NBC's drama series
Friday Night Lights from 2006 to 2009, portraying
Tyra Collette. In early 2011, she returned for the final two episodes of the series. Palicki starred in
Legion (2010), and co-starred in
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) in the lead female role of
Lady Jaye. Although initially signed on to star in
Jamie Babbit's 2012 horror film
Breaking the Girls, due to production delays and scheduling conflicts, she does not appear in the film. She became one of the principal cast after the
midseason break of season 2, continuing until her character was written out of the series near the end of season 3. ABC ordered a pilot episode for a spin-off, ''
Marvel's Most Wanted'', featuring her character in the lead role, but did not develop it as a series. In July 2016, Palicki was cast as Kelly Grayson in
The Orville, a
science fiction comedy-drama series created by
Seth MacFarlane, who also stars in it as Captain Mercer, her character's ex-husband. The series premiered on September 10, 2017, and two seasons have aired on FOX. A third season began in June 2022 on Hulu. In 2016, Palicki and her brother, Eric, collaborated on writing their first comic book, titled
No Angel, published by
Black Mask Studios. The first issue was released November 30, 2016. In 2023, Palicki starred in the
Hulu Original film
Quasi, released on April 20, 2023. ==Personal life==