CBS Studios International and E4 have struck a new deal that will see Star Trek: Discovery come to broadcast television for the first time in the UK. The CBS All-Access series has been streaming on Netflix here since first landing in September of 2017, and the service continues to hold the rights to release each episode of Discovery within 24 hours of its debut over in the US.
The acquisition of Star Trek: Discovery was announced alongside E4’s pickup of Man With A Plan, another CBS series that stars Friends‘ and Episodes‘ Matt LeBlanc. E4 plans to start airing both of the shows next year.
“We’re excited to bring the linear television rights for Star Trek: Discovery to the international market and launch in the UK with our valued friends at Channel 4,” said Barry Chamberlain from CBS Studios International in a statement. “This agreement features the best of both worlds — premium subscription content from a global franchise and a very popular network comedy from America’s Most-Watched Network. Channel 4 is already a licensee for several of our top-rated franchises, including The Good Fight and Charmed, and we are confident they will have continued success with Star Trek: Discovery and Man With A Plan.”
Star Trek: Discovery is currently midway through filming on season 3. It’s difficult to get into the specifics of where the show is at in terms of the main plot at this stage without getting into spoiler territory, and some people planning to watch the series may not want to hear too much about it if they’ve been waiting on a Freeview opportunity to check it out, but the series stars Sonequa Martin-Green, who is introduced as First Officer Michael Burnham. A Vulcan-raised human, Burnham becomes persona non grata at Starfleet in a pre-Star Trek: TOS timeline when she has a deadly encounter with a Klingon on a deep space mission.
The show has gone through plenty of behind the scenes drama. Hannibal‘s Bryan Fuller originally created the series for Alex Kutzman, but was fired as showrunner before the first season had even aired. Fuller was replaced by Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts, who were then both fired during production on season 2. Kurtzman had to take over as showrunner in season 3, and he has since brought aboard Michelle Paradise (The Originals) as executive producer.
Season 3 will stream on Netflix UK in 2020.
