The New Star Trek Series on CBS Delayed Because of Star Trek: Beyond Film

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Star Trek fans everywhere were blown away by news late last year that they were going to be getting a new Star Trek series. Coming exclusively to CBS, the new series is supposedly going to be used as a major recruitment tool to get folks subscribed to the streaming app Paramount Plus.

There were some early warnings that gave us pause, but then also some very positive signs regarding the folks managing the project. In other words, as it stands now, you could likely mark us down for cautious enthusiasm for the new Star Trek series.

But this week there was a bit of sad news regarding the new Star Trek television premiere date, as CBS President Les Moonves commented that because of the new movie ‘Star Trek: Beyond’ the new original television series was going to be delayed. Trekcore reported the news, that while Moonves was speaking at a conference, he commented on some sticky breakup agreements that are forcing the relate date a bit further out that we might have expected.

When [CBS] split from Viacom ten years ago, January 1, 2006, one of the big sticking points, as you can imagine, was “Star Trek.” You know, we both wanted it.

They said “It’s a movie!” and I said, “No, no, no, it’s a TV show.” Actually, we’re both right. So they kept the feature film rights, we kept the television rights; they have [“Star Trek Beyond”] coming out July 22.

Our deal with them is that we had to wait six months after their film is launched so there wouldn’t be a confusion in the marketplace.

In other words, with the new film coming out in July, CBS will have to wait at least six months after the film’s release date.

We get it, sure, but there is certainly some frustration here that Star Trek content is basically caught between two entertainment giants in CBS and Viacom, causing confusion for fans of the series.

The good news here, perhaps, is that this gives CBS and the cast and crew plenty of time to make Star Trek really, really good. While once again we’re approaching this development with cautious excitement, more time to make sure the quality is up to par can’t hurt.

This also likely means that there is going to be a stark separation between JJ Abrams’ Star Trek universe and the new show. With Viacom and CBS making the clear distinction, it would lead us to believe that the series itself will be vastly different from the recent movies.