Drawing on the mythology of the original series, which premiered back in 1966, the new series will introduce a host of new characters and new worlds and civilizations for them to explore. Those outside the USA will be glad to hear that it will be distributed concurrently for multiple platforms around the world.
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“‘Star Trek’ is sort of the family jewels”, Moonves said on a conference call for CBS’ third quarter earnings report.
And to celebrate the occasion, the current custodian of the prime universe, Star Trek Online, is commemorating the last Star Trek series, 2005’s Star Trek: Enterprise. The original series (starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, pictured left to right) ran on NBC. For a show like Star Trek, which traditionally indulges in nuanced episodic detours that arguably alienate casual viewers, this could be a step forward in terms of gaining the wider audience accessibility that the Abramsverse movies seem to covet.
CBS will soon boldly go where very few broadcast TV networks have gone before.
Orci was recently involved with the upcoming sequel ‘Star Trek Beyond, ‘ which has been scheduled for an official release in July 2016. Instead, it seems more likely that CBS All Access will produce a handful of originals each year, just enough to test whether the addition of new shows boosts subscriber figures and awareness of the service.
The series will air in the United States from January 2017 but will be available largely behind the paywall on CBS’s subscription channel, the broadcaster announced.
The series also is “a very important piece of business for us” as All Access establishes itself as a home for original programming. Instead it wants to build its All-Access streaming app audience with the lure of an all-new “Star Trek”.
“And yes, I heard about the new series”.
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CBS didn’t reveal much else about the new series aside from the fact that Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote and produced the recent reboot films “Star Trek” and “Star Trek Into Darkness”, will be producing. CBS All Access goes for $5.99 per month, and offers live TV and over 7,500 episodes on-demand. A new Trek show that aired regularly on the CBS network would’ve gotten a huge marketing launch, but then would have had to fight for attention with a couple dozen other CBS shows.
