Star Trek will continue to ‘boldly go’, but it may be going a little later than planned with new series ‘Discovery’ not airing in the US until May 2017…
There’s been much talk about the launch of the latest incarnation of the Trek franchise. The new series, Star Trek: Discovery, was due to launch with much fanfare in January next year. However CBS has announced that they have pushed back the premiere until May. The series begins shooting in November in Toronto and will debut its pilot on CBS… and then head to the subscription-only platform, CBS All Access.
The reason given for the delay is simply that they want to have the extra time to make sure the series launches to full effect and get it right. Expectations and interest are high and with the added fact that they want the show to attract more pay-per-view subscribers it’s even more important to have all their Vulcan ducks in a row.
“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,” explained Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman and show-runner Bryan Fuller in a statement. “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.”
Much of the project is still shrouded in secrecy, though it is currently believed to fit in somewhere between the original series and the Next Generation continuity – and it’s also believed not to be directly influenced by the changes in the timeline instigated by the J J Abrams reboot, though questions remain if that’s an edict or will simply not be clarified specifically. We do know that Fuller has said he is looking for a strong woman to be the female lead of the show and it may also be someone of colour – once again demonstrating the franchise’s remit for diversity amid the cosmic adventuring…
