Star Trek: Discovery Premiere Date Uncertain

Screen Rant

Star Trek: Discovery Premiere Date is Still Uncertain

By Kevin Yeoman

Published Apr 16, 2017

Production is currently underway on Star Trek: Discovery, but the premiere date on the next installment in the franchise remains uncertain.

After a handful of delays and a late round of behind-the-scenes musical chairs, production on Star Trek: Discovery is finally underway. The newest installment of the long-running film and television series will be part of CBS's ambitious over the top programming on CBS All Access, but even the network isn't exactly sure when the series will officially premiere. Discovery will join fellow streaming-only series The Good Fight, which is set to wrap up its first season and has already been renewed for season 2, as the top draws of the Eye network's entry into streaming and subscription-based programming.

The news isn't entirely surprising, considering how many times Star Trek: Discovery has already been pushed back. Originally developed by Bryan Fuller, the series saw the creator's departure last year, with Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts stepping in as co-showrunners. The shift in producers resulted in a slight premiere date delay, as the once-ambitious premiere date of early 2017 was pushed back to May, before being pushed back again to a far less concrete timeframe of "fall 2017." According to CBS Interactive president Marc DeBevoise, however, the network isn't necessarily committing to that either.

When asked by Vulture when the series was likely to premiere, DeBevoise simply said: "We're not stating."

The noncommittal stance on a premiere date is understandable given the number of setbacks the network has already seen with regard to the show. But with production well underway, it doesn't seem like fans should be too worried whether or not CBS still plans to boldly go where no human has gone before. As DeBevoise said, all systems are operational and the series is moving along as expected.

"It’s going great, I’ve actually been up there [to the set]. It is, you know, phenomenal. It is huge. And we’re very excited about the content, the creators, the actors, all coming together. As you said, we’re not tied to any specific release date. It’ll be there when we’re ready to do it, and when we feel it’s in a great place. We’re not worried about anything here. We’re excited, and we’ll have more specifics as we get closer to what will likely be the release dates."

Setbacks on new productions are not uncommon, and given the scale of creating something like a new Star Trek series, seeing CBS push its release date back may actually prove to be a saving grace for the upcoming program. After all, with it destined to play a major part in the future of CBS All Access, the network is wise to hold off on premiering its next big thing until it's good and ready to get Trekkers everywhere set to part with a few bucks a month so they can tune in.