‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 2 Could Be In 2019 Plus Producers Talk What To Expect Coming Up

Some of the Star Trek: Discovery producers did a few post-premiere interviews to talk about the two episodes that were released on Sunday night and to talk about what we can expect in episode three this weekend, as well as the rest of the season and even into the possible second season. WARNING: Minor spoilers for future episodes.

Kurtzman suggests Season 2 would be in 2019

While talking to The Hollywood Reporter, about the process (and delays) with the first season of Discovery Alex Kurtzman got onto the subject of a possible second season. While he couched the notion with “If we get a second season” the producer also made it clear that some thought has already gone into the future of the show, saying

There have been preliminary conversations about when and how [a second season could air] and we’ve been very consistent in our message, which is that rather than announce a date and have to push again, let’s take into consideration everything we’ve learned from this season. Now we know what we can do and where the sand traps are, so let’s give ourselves ample time to announce a date that makes sense to everybody — both the needs of production and CBS. Breaking story is, in some ways, the easier and faster thing; it’s the ability to execute on it that’s much harder. We want to take the right amount of time and don’t want to rush.

When pressed to predict a date, Kurtzman said “Ideally, on the early side of 2019” which could mean January or even anytime during the spring. But after the beating Kurtzman and the production took for the multiple delays during season one, they appear to be taking a conservative approach to predictions for season two.

Kurtzman also revealed where they are in the production and post-production process for the remainder of season one:

We are about to start shooting the finale. Part of the grand design of the season included the ending. We knew where we were going from the beginning and that was important in terms of a lot of the big ideas we set up in the first two episodes. It’s all leading to something. We are just finishing episode 14 and about to start 15. That’s in terms of production. In post, I start mixing episode five on Monday. That gives you a sense of how long it takes between shooting and post.

Kurtzman: Episode 3 is a new pilot

Alex Kurtzman also talked to Entertainment Weekly about the premiere and it is worth read. He also spoke about this weekend’s episode (“Context is for Kings”). 

There’s a time jump. It’s not a radical time jump. In many ways we designed episode 3 to almost be a new pilot. People were set up to expect one thing, and something very different episodes. The USS Discovery doesn’t show up until the third episode, along with its crew — which is our main cast. Burnham and the audience are going to have a reset. Burnham believes she’s headed to a prison colony and is met with an unexpected surprise that has to do with the Discovery and its captain.

Berg & Harberts on where Season 1 will go after premiere

Showrunners Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about Season 1. They talked about the first two episodes, and where Season 1 will go after the premiere.

THR: The premiere introduces this world and a number of characters but by the end of episode two, much of it is blown up to propel the story to what Discovery will be about. Building from those ashes, where does the series go?

Berg: The first two episodes is where we get to see her backstory. We get to see what launches her into the rest of the series and a lot of times, certainly on more traditional television series, you’d see that through flashback or hear about that through conversation. But we showed it.
Harberts: It enables the audience to see in two episodes who she was, who she is in that moment and who she thinks she’s going to be. She’s convinced she’s going to be a captain, her captain tells her as much. To be able to show the audience who Michael Burnham is and how she’s functioning in walking down a path she’s convinced she knows where it leads, what it allows us to do in episode three is show you everything she’s lost.

Michael Burnham as seen in season one preview

Doug Jones talks emotional loss, possible promotion

Talking to ET! Online, Doug Jones talked about the emotional devastation that occurs on episode 2, “Battle at the Binary Stars”, and gave his take on the premiere cliffhanger. He also teased at a possible promotion when he arrives on the U.S.S. Discovery under Captain Lorca.

For Saru, after going through the “Battle of Binary Stars” as the No. 3 on the Shenzhou, if he switched ships after being through a battle and surviving, he would hope for a promotion. I would probably leave it right there. (Laughs.)

Doug Jones as Saru seen in command gold from season one preview

 

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusive in the US on CBS All Access with new episodes released Sundays at 8:30 pm ET. In Canada Star Trek: Discovery airs on the Space Channel at the same time. Discovery is available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada with new episodes made available Monday mornings.
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.

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I bet CBS will want season 2 in late 2018 and they will find a way to make it happen cause, Probably doesn’t mean the date is set.

I bet you’re right as I’m probably not the only one who will cancel his subscription in the event of a long hiatus between seasons, probably even a short hiatus.

2019? CBS is going to have a big problem when, after the final episode of the season one airs (about 13 weeks from now?), everybody cancels their All Access subscription until season 2 finally drops.

It will also be interesting to see how CBS finances season 2 (Netflix pretty much paid for the first season) and if the production values will be affected if CBS must foot the bill.

Not true, this season is split in two.

Early 2019 is also when Game Of Thrones is expected to air its short final season. They might want to steer clear of that juggernaut.

Show is taking a break from November 5 to January 7. (A long break obviously designed to milk subscriptions). And the final episode is scheduled to stream February 18.

It likely has nothing to do with milking subscriptions. Considering in the post above they specify where they are on both production and post production. Since we’ve watched 2 episodes already, I can imagine they have a lot of work to do, considering they’re finishing up episode 5 in post.

nice try though…

I’d say it is mostly driven by milking subscribers. They said they are shooting the final episode now. You telling me they can’t get it ready to steam within 12 weeks?

I don’t think so. I think the show is just really behind and they need all the time possible in finishing up the season. And someone says it takes up to 2 months of post production for each episode. They are probably still editing a few episodes now. Thats how most TV shows operate. CBS is still treating AA like its network.

And besides they can’t really do much to stop people from simply cancelling for a few weeks when the show is in hiatus and subscribe again when it comes back on. It takes about 2 minutes to subscribe and cancel. If they were trying to ‘milk it’ they would figure out a system where everyone can’t just dump the site the minute the show is not on.

If CBS is treating the show like it is a regular over the air network show then CBS does not understand the concept of streaming only. People are claiming streaming is superior to the traditional broadcast and part of that is the shows are available immediately. That they don’t take holiday breaks. It is possible they just decided to treat it like it was on CBS and the weekly nature and the holiday break is par for the course. But part of me is thinking CBS is just trying to keep subscribers for as long as they can. They can do that by putting the show out on a weekly basis and including a break. Many will subscribe and cancel, but many will just not want to be bothered with doing that. It may indeed be easy. But people being people a lot just won’t go out of the way to do it. Or they will forget about it.

It’s pretty obviously designed to allow them time to finish the final episodes, which — in the article you just read — they just said they haven’t finished yet.

Why would a two month break be an effective strategy to retain subscribers? Obviously anyone who is going to cancel and resume between seasons will do the same around a two month break.

It’s two months worth of subscription fees they would not have if they ran the shows over 14 straight weeks. As I said, it shouldn’t take them 12 weeks to wrap up the finale which is finishing up shooting now.

No. This just reeks of cbs trying to keep a couple of months of subscribers as they know a good portion won’t be bothered to unsubscribe and subscribe again.

Nah. CBS knows by such a long break they can lose people this way and in fact its a risk because some people may cancel and not come back at all with a hiatus that long. I just think they are behind. They been behind since they announced the show but they needed something to show at least by fall so this was probably the compromise they made.

Respectfully disagree. CBS knows that a large hunk of subscribers will not be bothered to cancel over the break. People are just too lazy in general.

Another possibility that is a plus for CBS is if they schedule the episode right they will get an extra month out of all the subscribers that might be inclined to cancel after Trek is over due to their unwillingness to sell partial months.

It’s possible CBS it is indeed treating this like a regular network show. But I think that unlikely. And if they are then I think CBSAA is doomed.

Many shows avoid the Holidays. Think a little.

In thinking a great deal. Over the air network shows and even some cable show take in season breaks. Streaming shows… Not so much. You forget that Discovery is a streaming only show.

Its also run by a full fledged network. CBS is running AA like they do their network. Thats why you have the show premiering at 8:30 p.m. every Sunday instead of just midnight like other streaming shows post their new episodes. They are use to doing thing a certain way. AA is doing some famaliar things as a streaming site but its obvious its still being run by a network.

Wow…I bet CBS never thought of people cancelling when their show ended. I wonder what they will do with this shocking information? lol

Also, If the show is good, I suspect Netflix will be back on board for a second season. I imagine the contracts include clauses for further seasons…

Of course they know people will cancel once the show ends it run. Hell, I’m going to cancel during the break between the 1st and 2nd halves of season one. I only get HBO and Showtime during 2-3 months of the year for the couple shows I watch.

So I will probably pay $40-50 for the time I have All Access this year. That’s as much as I would pay for a season on Blu-Ray, and I don’t own the show. — That’s why if it came on iTunes or Vudu that I could buy the shows as they come up, I would do that.

BUT- many, many people will not cancel mid season, and a more than you would think won’t cancel for the rest of the year. It’s like rebates – not all of them will get sent in. And not all CBSAA subscribers will cancel.

Yes Martin. I agree. Most people are pretty lazy and just would rather keep paying the service rather than continuing to cancel and subscribe over and over. And CBS knows this.

CBS shareholders care more about how many eyeballs are seeing the shows–and how many are viewing advertising.

They are crazy if they let more than a year pass with this show. There are too many options available today. The audience will move on…Just think of all the momentum that was lost from ST 09 to Into Darkness after such a long wait between films.

As Mao once said about the French Revolution, it’s really too early to tell, are there are many variables involved, not the least of which is the quality of the show itself. If it’s a smash hit–and that’s possible, if unlikely after one season–people will anxiously await its return, just as they did with GoT. You may be right, but anything is possible

Yes but the difference is that HBO has better programming to keep subscribers in between GoT seasons. Right now CBS has nothing else to hold my interest in between Discovery seasons.

Cbsaa has nothing else to hold my interest the 7 days between episodes. Much less the 2 month winter break or a year between seasons. I’m canceling after the nov fifth episode. Not going to pay for two months of nothing. Will return when Trek returns in January.

Yeah but you werent even convinced Steaming existed a few months ago so the fact you’re an AA subscriber is a step in the right direction.

As concerned as you are for CBS’s financial situation, I dont think you need to worry. CBS has surely considered these variables.

Huh? I wasn’t even posting here a few months ago.

Not to mention the vast majority of the people viewing Star Trek : Discovery are not watching it on CBS anyway. So there’s no tie in with a specific “channel/network”.. although Netflix is moving into that sort of area with it’s own programming, although it’s a very tiny fraction of it’s database.

Agreed, but the question was if people would return, not if they would stick around in the meantime.

Exactly. For those of us that are excited about Trek returning to TV it could actually be a good thing if people are cancelling and renewing CBS between airings as it would demonstrate that there is a genuine appetite for new material and would likely result in CBS greenlighting additional trek projects to air between seasons/breaks.

It is crazy. The “new” fans the show gets who are not currently Trekkies will be far more transient and go off and watch something else during the break.. they may return, they may not. The hard core, long term Trek fanbase that’s existed for 51 years are the ones that will come back if they show is right, if it’s Star Trek. They seem to be catering far more to the former than that latter with various business choices, canon choices, aesthetic and storyline choices and this at the very best, splitting the viewpoint of the loyal fanbase. It’s trying to be all things to all people and all business and shooting itself in the foot in the process, it’s crazy.

@ziplock9000 — nah. Many people cancel services between show seasons they watch. If it’s a good show, they’ll be back. I’m back for BETTER CALL SAUL every year. Same with BREAKING BAD. But I don’t subscribe to AMC year round. It’s that simple. Welcome to the new entertainment paradigm.

If a show is good, fans return. Fans of the modern formatting of tv shows are loyal if it’s good. If not then you’re right, the attention span moves on to something else.

An alternative hypothesis would be that CBS could have chosen to do a straight sequel, exploration series with a white male father figure and a Data/Spock sidekick, which certainly would have kept the canonistas happy. Or, they could risk something more unique and distinctive. I get that DSC is not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s fine. Two shows in, I’m not entirely sold myself. But as someone who’s loved Trek more than some of the posters here have been alive, what I definitely did not want or need was a retread of TOS, TNG, or any of the other spinoffs/sequels. Been there, done that. So their decision to go the way they did doesn’t seem so crazy to me at all.

It won’t feel like that long of a wait because the first season will end in 2018. To start the next season the following year works out fine. Especially if season 1 is really good. That jump starts merchandise, fan community, even renewed interest in a film that could be released during show hiatus if Paramount gets their act together.

Even with the 9.6m CBS viewers in the US, Netflix’s has 50/55 million international subscribers who may be more instrumental on the future of Discovery. Netflix paid for Discovery upfront, it was a show already in profit and the money was banked before CBS even showed it on TV and All Access. If it does well for Netflix, then the money will flow and season 2 will be assured.

Sorry but 2019 is WAY TOO LONG a wait…if CBS makes one fatal mistake in this whole launch of CBSAA, it will be waiting too long between seasons and losing all the subscribers that otherwise would’ve stuck it out for a year but no more.

@albatrosity — do you really think CBS hadn’t thought about that?

They have made so many Mistakes with Discovery it doesn’t really matter because even when they think about things they don’t make good decisions that make any sense.

It’s what Kurtzman would prefer but it’s ultimately up to CBS and if CBS wants the show back in the fall of 2018 it will be back for the fall of 2018.

CBS wanted the show to premiere nine months ago. Who won that argument? (Answer: Reality won.)

Yup. That pretty much sums it up.

Its basically a year.

It seems to me that a lengthy delay from season one to season 2 will only hurt CBSAA. I’d really be curious to know how many subscribers bail out not just after the final season 1 episode but even during the break. Something tells me it will be at least a tad higher than other streaming services. And unfortunately that is not a figure that cbs would likely announce.

What a silly argument. Even Netflix has people churn. Its a real thing. Of course Trek fans will bail. Some will stay. The idea is to keep subs. Thats why they are investing in more original programming.

So many people so concerned for CBS lol

I wasn’t making an argument for or against anything. I was just saying I’d be interested in seeing what the numbers were. Wasn’t trying to make a case for anything.

“We want to take the right amount of time and don’t want to rush”. It’s been over a decade since the last series, this one has been delayed 9 months, a much shorter season that’s also split? WTF are you on about? Disenfranchise (literally) the fanbase that’s supported the franchise for 51 years and relying on any new and transient viewers is a very short term mindset that wont keep it going for another 51 years. “TV has changed” is bull.. It only changes to suit the viewers and the viewers like the format that has been in place for 51 years!

@ziplock9000 — speak for yourself. I like the new paradigm very much. Glad it’s moving away from the big three network model that can’t support good quality programming, or more importantly, niche programming.

@Cadet agreed. People really cant wrap their brains about streaming and why its good for the consumer.

Also, these poor people that cant seem to understand a wait from January 2018 to January 2019 would have lost their minds if they were Sopranos fans!

Jeez. No Trek at all for years and now fans complain about a year’s hiatus, as if there would be nothing else that’s worthwhile going on in the meantime. There’s lots about DSC that’s fair game for debate, but the incessant whining really gets tiresome.

They can’t do anything on time, all the films & Discovery were delayed or last minute rushes

Er… You do realize that the films and TV show are produced by different people, right? So by “they can’t do anything on time” you’re just saying “various unrelated people can’t do anything on time.”

You are right about that. For some reason with Star Trek there have been constant delays with both the KT films and obviously Discovery. Its nice that they don’t want to rush things but I believe the 7 years between the 3 KT films is what killed the hype over those. Discovery is off to a strong start but it needs to maintain momentum. I think waiting one year is OK, even if long for a show but anything longer than that may have people move on faster.

But the viewers *did* change. Many people no longer tune in to watch the show every week, they just watch it all in one row. Many people don’t even own a TV these days.

Shorter seasons are still quite enough to establish the “presence”, and it allows the producers to spend twice as much money on every episode, and to have twice as much time to make it. Which is for the better.

Over here in Europe, this has been a norm for decades. Most of our best shows are what Americans would call a “miniseries”: a run of five to twelve episodes, strong characters, no filler stories, and when it’s over, it’s over. For us, a show that runs 30 episodes a year for seven years (with half of the episodes completely unremarkable and non-essential), is a product of American wastefulness and megalomania. It’s a good thing you guys finally got enough common sense to prefer quality over quantity.

A shorter season does not translate into twice as much money per episode. It essentially comes down to this: Drop $2 million per episode for 20 episodes or $2 million per episode for 10 episodes across two series to build the channels library? A hugely successful series on cable will, however, get a longer season order since it’s like printing cash and can be used to promote other original content.

I would like to say one thing. I love standalone storiesand what everyone calls wastefull episodes are actually someof myfavorite TNG episode, etc. I love Dr Who and i’m just tired of everything becoming one giant story arc and not separate adventures etc..and i love to wait each week for new episode….i dn’t want all of it at once…
thanks..i think i’m the only one one.and i grew up on Next Gen…love TOS ..not so much DSNine…

It’s ultimately not his call. When the directive comes down from the network brass you make it work.

Which is why Discovery premiered back in January?

Which is why they fired Fuller. CBS had no choice but to delay. The pieces weren’t in place and they were across the board not ready to start shooting. That’s no longer an issue.

All shows currently premiering this month and October and returning next fall on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX and a number of cable channels will have to be ready to go before the cameras by next spring and early summer to meet their fall premiere dates. So, sure, Kurtzman could say he doesn’t want to rush things but from CBS’s perspective there’s no reason why the show can’t be ready for the fall of 2018.

Yes, but what do you think CBS will do if the producers tell them they can’t deliver a second season in six months? Fire them all, even if the show’s a hit?

They didn’t disinfranchise this part of the fanbase, anyway.

I am guessing the season will release its final episode around April or May… that means we have a 9 or 10 month wait, for Season 2. That is surely too long! We only get 15 hours in a season.

I hope that manage to meet the traditional September launch for Season 2 next year.

CBS needs to prepare for another Star Trek TV series that partially bridges the time Discovery isn’t on All Access.

There may well be a gap because of the unscheduled Star Trek 4 :) (6 months isn’t it)

There’s no way that ST4 could come out in 2018.

I would love to have mini series in between….and I also hope that what Fuller did reveal about his big plans for doing a show Pre TOS, (i think during TOS or maybe the gap after TOS into TNG) and of course after TNG/Voyager etc…and again i want klunker episodes…it’s the adventure….so if they do short 3-6 episode stories..tha’ts ok…

Kurtzman already hinted they are thinking of another show so if Discovery is anything remotely a success another show will be on. CBS is the home of 4 CSI shows, 3 Criminal Minds and 5 DC shows on their CW network. In fact all their original shows on AA are just spin offs from their previous shows. They have no problems when it comes to spin offs.

I watch far less TV than I used to because after a year of waiting for the next season I neither remember the last nor care what happens. Will just wait until the series finale and the whole series drops on netflix. There’s zero incentive to watch it now.

If remembering and caring about a previous season is a requisite for watching the current season, how do you ever watch the first season of a TV show?

Good question! Jeez, we’re at the point now where people are treating their ADD as a virtue! What the hell has happened to us, anyway?

You can’t remember anything after a year of TV show? Then how do you remember anything in films which sequels could be years inbetween?

A lot of the reviews from the press have all said that episode 3 is where the show begins to settle in and “get started.” For as much as I liked eps 1 and 2, if that’s what they’re saying about ep 3 then I’m very excited. Off to a great start.

it’s not that long. The show will end in Spring 2018 and be back a year later. It’s the way it is now. It’s been a long time since every show started in September and ended in May and repeat. If this show is successful as I believe it will be, look for other star trek related shows to play between seasons. Harve Bennett hinted at that a while back…

I actually thought with the special effects and everything else there putting in this show it will take awhile to get it back on the air. So your timeline makes sense.

Personally from what i’ve heard on the interwebs. There will be no season 2. Season 1 is a one and done and they will be coming up with a different series in the ‘Future’

source or link?

I’ll have to dig that up. I was watching a youtube video to be honest and they were going over all the news stories leading up to this pilot and all the issues that were going on in house. There was also rumblings that this show like I said above was never meant to last. I mean read this news story Kurtz says “IF”

While talking to The Hollywood Reporter, about the process (and delays) with the first season of Discovery Alex Kurtzman got onto the subject of a possible second season. While he couched the notion with “If we get a second season”

Every showrunner will always say ‘if’ after their show premieres. I would expect a renewal announcement sometime in October.

Total BS James. They have said over and over and over again they expect the show on to go several seasons. Not only that it was reported they ALREADY mapping the story line for season 2 and coming up with ideas for season 3. There is no such thing as a ‘one season show’ in American television. If its successful it will run every season until no one cares about it anymore.

And never trust Youtube lol.

Tried to give a link but mods wouldn’t let it pass through. So type this in youtube – “Star Trek Discovery: To Be Replaced by Nicholas Meyer’s New Series?” Midnight’s Edge is the author of the video. I really recommend you watch it.

That video is sheer nonsense, sorry.

LOL that silly story is about as tabloid as Obama being born in Kenya at this point. ;)

The reviews, ratings, and CAA signups have been a home run. Your statement makes no sense

Because what I heard came before the season aired. And had to do with all the conflicts inhouse and with Netflix who were pissed off at all the issues. Or do you think Bryan Fuller left just for American Gods and everything was A OKAY?

The video was trash. Yes, Fuller was fired, which everyone already knew. It’s other assertions were completely unsupported.

No season 2 seems highly unlikely

I hope what you said is what Fuller said about Pre TOs—after TOS and a show in the future…

I think I recall an article on this site that said a concept for the show that turned into this was to have a different Trek story in different eras each season. But it was abandoned.

Yes. From what was reported Fuller originally wanted Discovery to be an anthology series and every season we see the show in a new era, from pre-TOS to post-Nemesis, possibly up to the 25th century. Its not made clear would it be the same ship and crew every season and more than likely probably different characters and probably why CBS wasn’t into the idea. Besides the fact the huge amount of costs to reset a show with new sets, props and characters every season there is the fear by the network that people will get too attached to the characters in first season and fans would be upset they may not see them again.

This actually happened on the show Heroes. That show also was suppose to be an anthology and every season it was going to focus on a new set of hero characters and settings. NBC actually was OK with the idea until the show became a huge hit and the characters became household names over night. So they then not only cancelled the idea of turning it into an anthology they even wanted to keep the villain around because he was so popular lol. So it made a mess of things in future seasons when you couldn’t kill many people off including the bad guy.

Episode 2 was light years better than the premiere.

If it was then CBS made a mistake. They should have showed both episodes one and two on Sunday.

I personally haven’t seen episode two yet. Plan on subscribing today or tomorrow.

Being a fan of Star Trek from the 1960’s, Discovery however, has left me completely cold. It was a bit of a chore watching Deep Space Nine on it’s original showing, but after just 3 episodes of Discovery, I’d sooner re-visit DS9 again.