How The Walking Dead Caused A Huge Delay For Star Trek: Discovery

The production of "Star Trek: Discovery," as Trekkies likely know, was notoriously troubled. The original concept for "Discovery," as envisioned by TV mastermind Bryan Fuller, was a "Star Trek" anthology show wherein every season would take place in a different era in "Trek" history. The first season was to take place shortly before the events of the original 1966 "Star Trek" series, while the second would be concurrent with the original series. The third season would overlap with "Star Trek: The Next Generation," set a century later, and the fourth would take the series into the distant future. 

"Discovery" followed this mold, but only kind of. The first season of "Discovery" did indeed precede the original series, while its second interacted directly with a young Spock (Ethan Peck) and the pre-Kirk USS Enterprise. Then, thanks to a time portal, the USS Discovery was thrown forward in time almost a millennium, and the series had to start fresh in the distant future. Fuller was notoriously dismissed from the project before its debut, with the erstwhile showrunner pointing out that CBS didn't like his heady storytelling style. By the time "Star Trek: Discovery" debuted in September 2017, it had accrued a massive army of producers and executives, all trying to give input.

"Discovery" largely got made due to a sweetheart deal with Netflix that paid for most of the series in exchange for exclusive international streaming rights. In North America, "Discovery" was the series that launched CBS All Access, now called Paramount+.

"Star Trek: Discovery" was also delayed because of a scheduling conflict. In a 2017 behind-the-scenes article published in EW, it was revealed that the show's star, Sonequa Martin-Green, was still finishing her work on "The Walking Dead" when "Star Trek: Discovery" was scheduled to begin filming. It seems that everyone just had to wait. 

It's also worth noting that Fuller was attempting to run both "Discovery" and another new TV series, "American Gods," at the same time, so it might have been Fuller's busy schedule that kickstarted a series of delays on "Discovery." When Fuller was let go and new producers were brought on board, it instigated a new round of creative jiggery-pokery that pushed the show back further. The 2016 debut was pushed to January 2017, then it was pushed back again to September. The delayed debut wasn't a good look; all future seasons of the new "Star Trek" shows have kept their precise debut dates secret until the last minute. 

According to the EW article, sets for "Discovery" were being built in September of 2016 — when Fuller was still on board — but the show hadn't yet been cast. It was Fuller who witnessed Sonequa Martin-Green's audition. Martin-Green was to play Michael Burnham, the human first officer of the USS Discovery who had been raised by Vulcans (specifically, Spock's dad). Fuller was quoted as saying "Her audition was fantastic. [...] I found her incredibly insightful as an actor and delightful as a human being." 

The only problem was that Martin-Green was starring in "The Walking Dead" at the time. The actress knew her character, Sasha, was about to die — as so many did on that show — but AMC wouldn't release Martin-Green from her contract until her death episode aired. This was likely done to avoid spoilers; if fans knew Martin-Green was about to star in a "Star Trek" show, they could intuit that Sasha wasn't long for this world. 

Martin-Green could only come aboard "Discovery" if production was delayed. Luckily for her, it was. 

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery" (and that "final" part was a surprise to the cast as well as director Jonathan Frakes) debuts on April 4, 2024. Check out the trailer right here.