'Star Trek: Discovery' Air Date, Cast News: Producer Explains Delays, Assures Hardcore Fans Wait Is Worth It
The latest series from the "Star Trek" franchise, "Star Trek: Discovery" will finally debut in the fall. But it has not been a smooth path for the sci-fi series as delays affected its development.
"Star Trek: Discovery" producer Alex Kurtzman, however, assures hardcore fans of the franchise that the wait will be worth it. He said pushing the show's debut was necessary as they didn't want to deliver a half-baked outcome.
"The truth is we did not want to put out something that was subpar," Kurtzman said, as per Collider. He said CBS was supportive of the producers' decision to move the premiere date knowing they won't be ready if the executives pushed for an earlier screening .
"Star Trek: Discovery" was first announced as in development in mid-2015 for CBS's streaming platform, CBS All Access. Originally, the show was supposed to launch last January and was then subsequently moved to May when showrunner Bryan Fuller left the production to work on "American Gods." After Fuller's departure, CBS tentatively scheduled the show for a fall release date but the specific day has not yet been revealed.
Filming for "Star Trek: Discovery" has, so far, completed five of the 15-episode order. One other thing Kurtzman assures fans is that the episodes have been written by hardcore "Trek" fans themselves, which is to say that the series is in good, capable hands.
"They love different aspects of Trek," Kurtzman said in reference to the show's writing team. "We're really excited with how the scripts are going; the scripts are going great."
Meanwhile, Kurtzman also revealed they received several feelers from celebrities who want to be aboard "Star Trek: Discovery." The producers keep a list of actors' names and the show could potentially include a William Shatner (Captain Kirk) cameo.
"Star Trek: Discovery" stars Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham), Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou), James Frain (Sarek), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Stamets), Shazad Latif (Tyler), Chris Obi (T'Kuvma) and Rainn Wilson (Harry Mudd). The show, which will also run on Netflix, will reportedly get an aftershow companion series called "Talking Trek" and it will feature a discussion of what happened after each episode's airing.