The upcoming first season of Star Trek: Discovery has been expanded to include two more episodes than previously planned. After celebrating the Star Trek's franchise's 50th-anniversary last year, Paramount Television and CBS Television Studios announced plans to bring the property back to its roots -- on television. Discovery is the latest foray into the world of Star Trek; one that comes after a recent surge in popularity thanks to Paramount's new films, which began with J.J. Abrams' Star Trek in 2009.

Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote the screenplays for both Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, conceived the series' concept along with Hannibal and American Gods co-creator Bryan Fuller. The two developed the show's premise as well as its characters, but due to Kurtzman and Fuller's other commitments, the series has been delayed numerous times. Wanting to prevent further delays, CBS restructured Discovery, placing Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts in charge as showrunners. Now, it looks like things are finally on track for a fall premiere.

At the 2017 CBS Upfronts, CBS president/COO Marc DeBevoise confirmed that Star Trek: Discovery season 1 has been expanded to 15 episodes and reaffirmed plans to premiere the series on the network's streaming service, CBS All Access, this fall. It will also include an aftershow, titled Talking Trek.

Star Trek: Discovery was originally given a 13-episode order for its first season, but it seems like the network likes what they've seen thus far to tack on an additional two episodes. It's unclear at this time if the network will air all 15 episodes consecutively, or split them up into two parts, presumably to accommodate for a winter break. The episode and premiere announcement was accompanied by a handful of new images of the series' cast, courtesy of Variety's Brian Steinberg who was in attendance at the event. Take a look:

First scenes from Star Trek Discovery made available at #CBSUpfront pic.twitter.com/0dovXwlLyz— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) May 17, 2017

pic.twitter.com/9vnccIQICA— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) May 17, 2017

pic.twitter.com/DhoybUhqy5— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) May 17, 2017

The images come off the heels of the first Discovery photo that arrived this morning (above), showing both Sonequa Martin-Green's First Officer Michael Burnham and Michelle Yeoh's Captain Philippa Georgiou on a desert-like planet. These new images give us a different perspective of Yeoh and Martin-Green, as well as our first look at James Frain's Vulcan astrophysicist Sarek, who franchise fans may recognize as Spock's father.

Discovery is a prequel that takes place roughly ten years prior to the events of Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek series. It follows the crew of the USS Discovery and will focus on "an incident and an event in Star Trek history that's been talked about but never been explored." In addition to Martin-Green, Yeoh, and Frain, the series' features an excellent cast, consisting of people like Terry Serpico, Maulik Pancholy, Sam Vartholomeos, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, and Jason Isaacs, with Rainn Wilson as the villain Harry Mudd.

NEXT: First Trailer for Star Trek: Discovery Arrives

Star Trek: Discovery premieres Fall 2017 on CBS All Access.

Source: CBS