Back in 2016, CBS Studios picked Pinewood Studios in Toronto for where they would be filming their upcoming (and still unnamed) streaming Star Trek series. Several of their stages have been used to produce five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery (and more Trek), and to honor that legacy Pinewood renamed one of the stages for the franchise.
The Star Trek Stage
Today Pinewood Studios is officially announcing the stage renaming to coincide with the release of the fifth and final season of Discovery, now streaming on Paramount+. “The Star Trek Stage” (Originally Pinewood’s Stage 8) is an 18,000 sq foot stage at Pinewood Toronto Studios. While they are making the announcement today, the actual stage was renamed during production on season 5.
Cast of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 (Photo: Michael Gibson)
The Star Trek Stage is one of many stages that have been used by CBS Studios for Star Trek, most recently for the Federation HQ and USS Discovery ready room sets. The Star Trek: Discovery production has also utilized the 45,900 sq foot Mega Stage and Pinewood’s Stage 7, Stage 9, and Stage 12 as well as production facilities and workshops. The upcoming Section 31 streaming movie was also shot at Pinewood.
Sarah Farrell, General Manager of Pinewood Toronto Studios, said in a statement, “We are so delighted to have hosted Star Trek: Discovery over 5 seasons and the recently wrapped Star Trek: Section 31 movie event and to celebrate our longstanding relationship with the franchise with our own Star Trek Stage. We look forward to welcoming many more productions to come.”
“Pinewood Toronto Studios has become a second home for our Star Trek family, and we’re grateful that they’ve named a stage in honor of the franchise,” said Alex Kurtzman, Executive Producer at the helm of the Star Trek series. “In addition to the amazing stage space, we’ve benefitted from working with the talented artists in front of the camera and behind the scenes and look forward to our partnership in Toronto on future series.”
Pinewood Studios has a history for naming stages after famous productions that use their facilities. The original Pinewood Studios lot in the UK has the Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage, as Pinewood has long been a home to the James Bond franchise with producer Albert R. Broccoli (and more recently daughter Barbara Broccoli).
Star Trek: Discovery executive producers Trevor Roth, Michelle Paradise and Alex Kurtzman with the season 5 cast (Photo: Michael Gibson)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is currently in production on its third season with a fourth recently announced by Paramount+, is also shot in the Toronto area, but not at Pinewood. SNW is shot at CBS Stages Canada in Mississauga, Ontario. Both productions also use the Pixomondo AR Wall LED Stage in Toronto.
Starfleet Academy coming to the Mega Stage
Pinewood will also be home to the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series, which is expected to start filming this summer. The recent Star Trek feature in Variety described how Pinewood’s “Mega Stage” will be used for Academy:
“In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.”
Pinewood Mega Stage will be home to Starfleet Academy (Photo: Pinewood Studios)
Behind the scenes for Discovery at Pinewood
Here are videos for seasons 5 and 2 of Discovery showing elements of the show being produced at Pinewood…
Nice gesture. After decades of use by Trek movies and shows, Paramount never did this for Stages 8 or 9.
So Kurtzman clearly signed some sort of long term deal here right?
Maybe. Or it’s just Pinewood buttering up a good client.
I just sooo ironic one ofvthise videos posted in this article is geo blacked Canada…….fir a show shot in Canada. Heaven forbid Canadians get access to promotional materials for a Canadian produced show.
And why would it being filmed in Canada have any significance ?
I agree it shouldn’t. Promotional materials should be available to everyone regardless where it was filmed. Doesn’t make sense for a behind the scenes internet clip to be geo blocked.
should have called it the 1701 stage, a la Pinewood’s 007 stage.
That woulda been SAWEET!!!
I like the way you think, sir.
Oh nice! That’d have been cool.
It’s Canada, so the 1701-eh? Stage.
So touching. Reminds me of ‘Leonard Nimoy Way’ on the Paramount lot.
Nice gesture from Pinewood.