It all seemed too good to be true. STAR TREK: DISCOVERY was all set to debut in January 2017. Now CBS All Access has announced that the streaming-first show has been pushed back until May 2017. The decision is driven by a belief that the extra time will allow producers to instill the quality into the franchise that it so rightfully deserves.
“Bringing ‘Star Trek’ back to television carries a responsibility and mission: to connect fans and newcomers alike to the series that has fed our imaginations since childhood,” said executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Bryan Fuller. “We aim to dream big and deliver, and that means making sure the demands of physical and post-production for a show that takes place entirely in space, and the need to meet an air date, don’t result in compromised quality. Before heading into production, we evaluated these realities with our partners at CBS and they agreed: ‘Star Trek’ deserves the very best, and these extra few months will help us achieve a vision we can all be proud of.”
The first ongoing STAR TREK series since the end of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY appears to be a prequel series to the franchise. Bryan Fuller will be the showrunner on the series, having previously been a writer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Vincenzo Natali will serve as the producing director, although he is not directing the first episode. The new series will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with executive prodcuer Alex Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout. Kurtzman and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry (son of Gene), and Trevor Roth, the COO of Roddenberry Entertainment, will also serve as executive producers. Kurtzman is also an executive producer for the hit CBS television series Scorpion and Limitless, along with Kadin and Orci, and for Hawaii Five-0 with Orci.
It will debut on CBS All Access in the US and Canada, and express stream to Netflix in 188 countries around the world on the same days.