There has been a lot of news the last few months about more and more Star Trek television projects coming down the line — from the upcoming Picard series bringing Patrick Stewart back to Trek, to the animated Lower Decks series from Rick & Morty scribe Mike McMahon, to the newly-announced Section 31 show set to star Michelle Yeoh, and more — but when will we actually see these arrive on our screens?
While Discovery executive producer Heather Kadin told us last night that they are already planning for Michelle Yeoh to be a part of the yet-unannounced third season of the show, a new interview with Julie McNamara, CBS All Access’ executive vice president of original content, may put a longer timeline on the Georgiou-led Section 31 show than we originally expected.
Speaking with The Wrap yesterday, McNamara put the long development projections for both Lower Decks and Section 31 into perspective — the long lead time for animation means Lower Decks won’t be out until at least 2020; Section 31 may take even longer.
McNamara points out that the Picard series won’t be on the service until the end of 2019, and that the Michelle Yeoh-led series is just in development as of now. She’s still expected to be a major part of “Discovery” during season 2, with McNamara adding that the season won’t necessarily serve as a back-door pilot for Yeoh’s standalone show.
“Lower Decks” won’t air soon, either: the animation alone will take a year.
“When I look at how the schedule is theoretically laying out on my desk, it does not feel like it’s one after another,” she said, adding that by the time the Yeoh-led series premieres, “Discovery” may be over.
“Some of these can be considered as replacements as opposed to additions,” she said. “These ‘Trek’ shows take a lot of incubation, because they’re very prep heavy, visual effects heavy… we’re seeing it more as we’re getting a good jump on making sure that there is a good fulsome stream of ‘Trek’ material.”
Assuming CBS moves forward with a third year of Discovery, we don’t expect to see it until after the first year of the Picard series finishes its run in early 2020 — so don’t exactly mark your calendars just yet for a Section 31 series premiere party.
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