Just as the beloved sci-fi television series is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary, a new small-screen series of Star Trek has been ordered. Alex Kurtzman, producer of the two recent big-screen blockbusters, will bring the show to CBS TV.
The new show, which will debut in 2017, will not be related to the third instalment of the re-launched franchise, Star Trek Beyond, which is slated for a summer release by Paramount Pictures. The new TV show will focus on an entirely new crew in the Star Trek canon, who will be boldly going where no one has gone before.
The series will be a co-production between CBS Television Studios and Kurtzman’s own company, Secret Hideout.
The new series, which will be broadcast 12 years after the most recent series in the Star Trek universe wound up, will premier with a special preview broadcast on the CBS Television Network, but all of the other episodes in the series will then drop on the channel’s online streaming service.
Star Trek is one of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time, though the original series, created by Gene Roddenberry in 1966, originally struggled to find an audience. The science fiction brand ultimately spawned twelve feature films and five successful television series.
“There is no better time to give ‘Star Trek’ fans a new series than on the heels of the original show’s 50th anniversary celebration,” said David Stapf, president of CBS Television Studios.
“Everyone here has great respect for this storied franchise, and we’re excited to launch its next television chapter in the creative mind and skilled hands of Alex Kurtzman, someone who knows this world and its audience intimately.”
