'Star Trek: Discovery' Gets a Second-Season Renewal
by EG
The sci-fi franchise series Star Trek: Discovery isn't yet halfway through its first season, but CBS is betting on the series by ordering a second season already. That's not surprising, since the network hopes that the series will draw subscribers to its CBS All Access streaming platform, the only place that Star Trek: Discovery is available. It could be a long time before new episodes of the series are ready, though, so new subscribers might find that they've signed up for a service that doesn't offer any new episodes of the series that convinced them to sign up in the first place.
Star Trek: Discovery is going to live long and prosper on CBS All Access.
The network's subscription video-on-demand platform has renewed Star Trek: Discovery for a second season.
"In just six episodes, Star Trek: Discovery has driven subscriber growth, critical acclaim and huge global fan interest for the first premium version of this great franchise,” said Marc DeBevoise, president and CEO at CBS Interactive. "This series has a remarkable creative team and cast who have demonstrated their ability to carry on the Star Trek legacy. We are extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished and are thrilled to be bringing fans a second season of this tremendous series."
The Star Trek: Discovery premiere set a new record for subscriber sign-ups in a single day, week and month for CBS All Access.
The new incarnation of the storied franchise had a challenging two-year road to the screen. Originally slated to premiere in January 2017, the drama starring The Walking Dead grad Sonequa Martin-Green was delayed to May.
And then showrunner Bryan Fuller — who grew up as a Trekkie — exited the series to focus on his Starz show American Gods, with longtime collaborators Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts taking over after the Hannibal creator broke the season-one outline. Recognizing the scope of the show, Kurtzman went to CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves with a big ask: to delay the massive undertaking a second time. The drama wound up launching Sept. 24, with its premiere on CBS before moving to CBS All Access in week two.
The SVOD service, perhaps in response to Discovery's delays, split the 15-episode season-one order in half. The first half concludes Nov. 12, with the remaining six episodes returning weekly starting in January.
While CBS All Access has yet to determine a return date (or episode count) for season two, executive producer Alex Kurtzman — in a nod to the show's challenging path to the screen — told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of its premiere that a sophomore run would "ideally" return "on the early side of 2019." Kurtzman noted that every episode takes three to four months, including production and VFX. (Production on the season-one finale was underway when the show premiered, for example.)
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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