“Star Trek: Discovery” star Sonequa Martin-Green; Jan Thijs/CBS (LOS ANGELES) — When Star Trek: Discovery premieres September 24, it won’t just face scrutiny from legions of loyal Trekkers, but also from the television industry, as CBS uses the latest Stark Trek spinoff as a cornerstone in the development of its subscription streaming service, CBS All Access, where Star Trek: Discovery will run.
The pressure is being felt on all sides.
Star Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays the lead role of Commander Michael Burnham — yes, a female character with a male name — understands the stakes.
“Anyone doing a new iteration of Star Trek, you have to understand how deep it is; you have to understand how important it is,” she explains to Variety. “You have to understand how much of a pillar it is to our culture. I think you need that in order to really give it the weight it deserves, and I think that — I hope that more than anything — people get the sense of how serious we take this.”
But will the show — the first episode of which will premiere on CBS’ broadcast network before moving over to All Access — be able to drive viewers to the paid-subscription service. Only time will tell.
“Look, this was a big call for us,” CBS CEO Les Moonves tells Variety. “Getting our content online, having it streamed, having it be an important part of our company going forward, we said all right, there is no better way to launch it to the upper level than to take Star Trek, which is the family jewels, and put it there to attract millions of viewers.”
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