Swamped underneath the heavy-hitters of Justice League, Kong: Skull Island and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, CBS’ Star Trek Discovery risked being snowed under the vast array of trailers coming out of San Diego Comic-Con. But during this week’s Television Critics Association conference, the network’s serialized offshoot was given its time in the sun.
With production expected to get underway soon, despite the fact CBS has remained mum on casting, Star Trek veteran Bryan Fuller confirmed Discovery will follow a female lead – playing a Lieutenant Commander, no less – and that the network has currently ordered a total of 13 episodes with the possibility of an extension.
Set some 10 years before Captain James T. Kirk ventures out on his five-year mission in the original series, Fuller teased that older characters from the original Trek could make an appearance. It’ll be rooted in the Prime universe, too, offering a change of pace from Paramount’s live-action movies, which take place in the Kelvin universe.
“Since we are doing this series in 2016, and all the other series have been produced in a timeline that isn’t as sophisticated as we are now in terms of what we can do production-wise, we’re going to be reestablishing an entire look for the series. Not only for the series, but for what we want to accomplish for Star Trek beyond the series. So we have to start early on with a touch point where people can understand and have access into it, show them how we’re reimagining Star Trek and then hold their hand as we pull them hopefully into iterations a lot of different timelines beyond what we have seen.”
CBS is yet to nail down a premiere date for Star Trek Discovery, but the series is expected to bow at some point in January.