Emboldened by the continued success of Discovery, not to mention Patrick Stewart’s decision to reprise the role of Jean-Luc Picard, CBS TV Studios president David Stapf hopes to double down on the Star Trek universe moving forward.
As a matter of fact, while chatting to Deadline, Stapf outlined his goal to have something from the Trek universe playing on CBS All Access at all times – be it an episode of Discovery or the newfangled continuation of Picard’s intergalactic story, the network president wants viewers to be able to enjoy Star Trek round the clock… 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
My goal is that there should be a Star Trek something on all the time on All Access.
You certainly can’t fault David Stapf’s ambition, as he’s worked in close collaboration with Alex Kurtzman (newly-appointed shepherd of the Star Trek brand) to develop Discovery and, in due course, that aforementioned series starring Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard.
Getting such a Trek legend back on board is a big deal for the entire franchise, too, as Stapf tells Deadline:
It came to us, as do all things Trek now, through Alex Kurtzman, with the idea of, wouldn’t it be cool to do something Next Gen-oriented, and/or get Patrick Stewart and/or any of those iconic Next Gen characters. As Patrick himself has said, he was of the opinion that ‘I’ve done that character,’ but he got a meeting with Alex and some of the other guys and they won him over. The deal didn’t take that long once he decided to do it.
Further details on Stewart’s Star Trek comeback remain under wraps. Closer to home, though, Discovery beams onto CBS All Access for its second season early next year, and it’ll be doing so with Ethan Peck on board as Starfleet science officer, Spock. And isn’t that exciting?