Our distance to the final frontier has just been extended by about four months as CBS All Access has announced that the sixth Star Trek series, Discovery, is being delayed from January to a May 2017 launch. This delay is reportedly due to the insistence of executive producers/creators Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman.
In a statement the duo noted, "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. 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 series template and episodic scripts that Alex and Bryan have delivered are incredibly vivid and compelling,” said CBS TV Studios president David Stapf. “They are building a new, very ambitious Star Trek world for television, and everyone involved supports their vision for the best timing to bring to life what we all love on the page.”
Addressing the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2016 Media, Communications And Entertainment Conference, CBS head Les Moonves elaborated, “With Star Trek, which is the family jewels, I rather it be a few months late than not late and suffer for it."
At this point several scripts have been written for the series, the first season has been completely mapped out and casting is underway. Star Trek: Discovery was to have launched first on the CBS network before heading to All Access, and will be carried outside the States by Netflix.