Star Trek Discovery delayed to May 2017

Star Trek Discovery, CBS’ new series that was going to act as the relaunch of its digital service, CBS All Access, has been delayed to May 2017.

Star Trek Discovery was supposed to debut in February, but has been moved to allow the creative team more time to make the series that they want instead of feeling rushed to meet a deadline, according to a press release. The previously announced Good Wife spinoff will take its place instead.

Executive producers on the series stressed a need for more time to work on various aspects of the show, specifically the visual effects, with filming delayed until November to allow the team to figure out the details. Showrunner Bryan Fuller added that the show carries an enormous amount of weight to connect old fans and new fans to the new crew in Discovery and after talking with CBS about it at length, decided that delaying the debut was the best possible decision.

"We aim to dream big and deliver, and that means making sure the demands of physical and post-production for a show that takes place entirely in space, and the need to meet an air date,don’t result in compromised quality," Fuller said.

Last month, Fuller spoke about Discovery during the Television Critics Association press tour and revealed that the show would be the first to not focus on the U.S.S. Enterprise or the ship’s captain. Instead, it will focus on a female lieutenant and will be the first truly serialized Star Trek series in the franchise.

CBS did not announce a firm start date for the series, but it will be available to stream in May on All Access for $5.99 a month. The network recently announced that a commercial-free option will also be made available to subscribers for $9.99 a month. Discovery will only be available to fans in the United States and Canada through All Access, but Netflix announced earlier this year that it had purchased the world wide distribution rights for countries that can’t access CBS’ streaming service.