Like Star Trek: Prodigy before it, Star Trek: Discovery just surprised us all with a mid-season break kicking off after next Thursday’s episode — giving the animated show time to finish its first wave of episodes before returning in February.

Announced through social media this afternoon, Discovery’s December 30 episode “…But to Connect” will be the last episode to air before a six-week hiatus, after which the show’s fourth season will return to conclude it’s (assumed) 13-episode run on February 10.

With this new scheduling change, keeping Prodigy and Discovery from overlapping (and saving our team from having to ready two episode reviews each week, thank you Santa!), here’s what the next two months of Star Trek scheduling looks like (again, assuming a standard 13-episode season):

DECEMBER 30: Discovery 407 — “…But to Connect”
JANUARY 6: Prodigy 106
JANUARY 13: Prodigy 107
JANUARY 20: Prodigy 108
JANUARY 27: Prodigy 109
FEBRUARY 3: Prodigy 110
FEBURARY 10: Discovery 408
FEBRUARY 17: Discovery 409
FEBRUARY 24: Discovery 410
MARCH 3: Discovery 411
MARCH 10: Discovery 412
MARCH 17: Discovery 413

All three previous seasons were ordered for 13 episodes each; Season 1 was extended to 15 and Season 2 was extended to 14 after splitting “Such Sweet Sorrow” into a two-part finale. While Picard and Strange New Worlds are operating under 10-episode season counts, so far there is no indication that Discovery will have fewer than 13 episodes in Season 4.

That said, Star Trek: Picard Season 2 has been advertised for a “February 2022” return, but this extended schedule for the two ongoing series likely means we’ll see a shift in that show’s timetable as well; as of this writing, however, no formal announcement to that has been made.

Should that domino be the next to fall, we’ll certainly let you know right here!

Star Trek: Discovery returns with “…But to Connect” on December 30 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on CTV Sci Fi Channel and Crave in Canada. Outside of North America, the series is available on Paramount+ and on Pluto TV in select international locations.

Star Trek: Prodigy returns January 6 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada.

Star Trek: Picard return for Season 2 in February 2022 — well, maybe? — on Paramount+ in the United States, CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada, and on Amazon’s Prime Video service in the UK and other international regions.