First season of Star Trek: Discovery to air on CBS ahead of 3rd season premiere

Star Trek: Discovery will make it’s broadcast television debut on Sept. 24 at 10:00 PM on CBS.

Are you a fan of Star Trek but don’t want to pay for CBS All Access? Well, you’re in luck, as CBS will begin airing episodes from the first season of Star Trek: Discovery on this fall. The show will begin airing on Thursday, Sept 24 in the 10:00 PM timeslot nationwide The move is seemingly done to not only expose the series to new fans but to also help promote the upcoming third season, which is expected to drop three weeks after it’s televised debut on All Access.

This marks the first Trek series that is aired in primetime on a national network since the end of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005.

From CBS:

"The first full season of CBS All Access’ STAR TREK: DISCOVERY* makes its broadcast debut Thursday, Sept. 24 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) as a special limited promotional run prior to its third season return on CBS All Access. The third season of the hit series, starring Sonequa Martin-Green, is scheduled to launch Thursday, Oct. 15 exclusively on CBS All Access, ViacomCBS’ subscription video on-demand and live streaming service."

The move isn’t just about expanding the Trek brand, but also about finding content to air inlight of the COVID-19 pandemic that has seemingly shut down all of the entertainment industry for months, forcing a lot of projects to either stall mid-production, get canceled or be placed on hold until things can be opened back up.

The good news is that this may cause the folks at ViacomCBS to consider airing more Star Trek series on television. The upcoming animated Nickelodeon series, Star Trek: Prodigy, is still penciled in for a debut on the Nickelodeon network. Which will also be the first brand new series to debut on television since Star Trek: Enterprise.

There’s always a chance that changes, as Nickelodeon is owned by Viacom as well, but as of right now the plan is to get Prodigy to air on the kid’s network.