‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Air Date Finally Revealed

After many delays, CBS has finally announced that “Star Trek: Discovery” is ready to launch. The network has given the series a fall air date.

“Star Trek: Discovery” will premiere on CBS at 8:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 24. Subsequent episodes, however, will be released on the network’s streaming platform, CBS All Access. Those who are subscribed on premiere night will be able to watch the first and second episodes online Sept. 24.

CBS released “The Good Fight” in the same way earlier this year. The show premiered on TV, allowing viewers to get a taste of what CBS All Access offers before they sign up for a subscription. New users are also given a free week-long trial of the streaming service. Subscription plans start at $5.99 a month.

Though “Star Trek: Discovery” is being released on an online platform, CBS All Access doesn’t follow the Netflix model of dropping all episodes at once. New episodes will be released weekly on Sundays through Nov. 5. Then the show will take a hiatus. The “Second Chapter” of “Star Trek: Discovery” will premiere in January.

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Fans have been waiting quite a while to see the new series. Initially, it was set to start in February, but then the premiere was moved to May when the creative team said they didn’t want to rush. The May premiere was also axed.

“This is an ambitious project; we will be flexible on a launch date if it’s best for the show,” a CBS All Access press release stated (via the Hollywood Reporter). “We’ve said from the beginning it’s more important to do this right than to do it fast. There is also added flexibility presenting on CBS All Access, which isn’t beholden to seasonal premieres or launch windows.”

While the “Star Trek” movie franchise is revisiting old characters, “Discovery” will explore the world mostly through new eyes. There will be mostly new characters, ships and missions in this story, which is set about 10 years before Capt. Kirk’s mission started. However, the new Starfleet will be “embracing the same ideology and hope for the future that inspired a generation of dreamers and doers,” according to CBS.

While new characters are the focus, there will be connections to beloved characters. James Frain will play Sarek, the father of Spock. Sonequa Martin-Green, Jason Isaacs, Anthony Rapp, Michelle Yeoh, Rainn Wilson and more will also star.

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“American Gods” showrunner Bryan Fuller will be credited as an executive producer on the sci-fi show, but his involvement is limited. He wanted focus on the Starz drama, so he had to step back from “Trek.” However, fellow producer Alex Kurtzman says Fuller left his mark on the show.

“[The shows are] both sort of beloved to him, so we sat down and we figured out how are we going to take what we can have of you and continue that through not only this season of ‘Trek’ but hopefully set up things that are coming next season,” Kurtzman told Collider. “So much of what’s there in terms of story and certainly in terms of set-up, character, big ideas, the big movement of the season, that’s all stuff that Bryan and I talked about.”

Heather Kadin, Gretchen J. Berg, Aaron Harberts, Akiva Goldsman, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth are also executive producers.

“Star Trek: Discovery” is the first “Trek” TV series in over a decade. The original ran from 1966 to 1969 with various spinoffs following it. “Enterprise,” which wrapped up in 2005, was the last TV series on the air.