'Star Trek' TV series to premiere by January 2017 with new characters and new civilisations

CBS Television Studios has announced that it will be working on a new “Star Trek” TV series that will be launched in January 2017. The new series will be initially available exclusively on CBS All Access, the digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service of the network.

The new show will first be launched in the US and will later be distributed via television and other platforms for the global market. The original series will be developed “specifically” for the US audience. CBS All Access streaming service already offers all the episodes of the previously released “Star Trek” TV shows.

The first TV series from the franchise was released in the 1966 and the franchise will be celebrating its 50^th anniversary in 2016. There have been a total of six TV shows from the franchise, including the original. It has been a decade since “Star Trek: Enterprise” aired.

“The brand-new “Star Trek” will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilisations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966,” CBS announced.

Alex Kurtzman, who has worked as the co-writer and producer of movies like “Star Trek” (2009) and “Star Trek: Into Darkness” (2013), will be the executive producer of the new show. Kurtzman will be joined by Heather Kadin, who will also serve as the executive producer.

“This new series will premiere to the national CBS audience, then boldly go where no first-run ‘Star Trek’ series has gone before – directly to its millions of fans through CBS All Access,” Executive Vice President/General Manager of CBS Digital Media Marc DeBevoise said.

The “Star Trek” franchise continues to be popular today. CBS revealed that the franchise generates more than a billion impressions on social media every month. “Every day, an episode of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise is seen in almost every country in the world,” President and CEO of CBS Global Distribution Group Armando Nuñez said.

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