As America continues to take measures to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, many shows and films are putting production on hold in order to protect their casts and crews. This means that upcoming seasons or even currently running seasons will be affected by the virus, and that includes Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery. The good news is the impact of coronavirus on this CBS All Access series hasn't been quite as drastic as some shows, but it still isn't ideal.
An update on the progress of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 came during Wilson Cruz's Instagram Live session earlier in the week. While Cruz didn't have specifics on how far out the season was from being completed, Cruz's co-star Anthony Rapp appeared in the comments to talk about where the season is so far.
They’re currently editing and doing visual effects for Season 3, but it’s shifting to work from home so it’ll be slower than usual. No word yet as to how long that will take or when it will be released...
From the sound of Cruz's follow up tweet to Rapp's comment during the livestream, it looks confirmed that Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 will be delayed. The good news is that it seems all the filming is completed, which means that a good chunk of the post-production work can continue, albeit at a slower pace as crews shift to work from home.
Visual effects are a big part of any Star Trek series, and the ones in Discovery have been especially impressive. That takes the collective effort of a large team of artists, who may be hard at work on various stages of different effects at any given time. Per a panel the special effects team gave at Wonder Con in 2019, the effects come together with the help of "nearly 500 artists scattered across the globe."
This means there needs to be a lot of communication and collaboration, some of which may be slowed with many employees now working from home. The positive is that there was likely some form of long-distance communication happening probably given the franchise has artists working on Star Trek: Discovery globally, so hopefully this is a task many on staff are familiar with.
Star Trek: Discovery's release may be delayed, though it is worth noting it hasn't been given a premiere date to begin with. Executive producer Heather Kadin told TrekCore.com production was estimated to be complete by May before the pandemic, so it's possible the delay means the show won't be finished in time for a summer release. This is just speculation of course, and with fans never being given a release date to begin with, it's possible the series (which will revisit the Discovery team following their voyage 1000 years into the future) may have been planned to be held for Fall 2020 or early 2021.
Season 1 and 2 of Star Trek: Discovery are currently available to stream on CBS All Access. As always, continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more updates on what's happening in the Star Trek franchise, and for the latest news in television and movies at large.
