Star Trek: Discovery has been granted a third season at CBS All Access. The next season of the sci-fi drama will debut on the streaming service in 2020. Michelle Paradise, a former executive producer on The CW’s The Vampire Diaries spin-off, The Originals, will join current Discovery head Alex Kurtzman as showrunner when the show returns.
“Michelle joined us midway through season 2 and energized the room with her ferocious knowledge of Trek,” Kurtzman said in a press release. “Her grasp of character and story detail, her drive and her focus have already become essential in ensuring the Trek legacy.”
Paradise will be Star Trek: Discovery‘s fifth showrunner over the course of three seasons. The latest installment in television’s premiere science fiction franchise was developed by Hannibal and Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller, who ultimately left the series in order to work on Starz’s American Gods. Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts oversaw Star Trek: Discovery season 1, while Kurtzman, who co-wrote J.J. Abrams’ two big-screen Star Trek adventures and helped create Fox’s paranormal drama Fringe, took over for season 2.
Paradise’s promotion doesn’t mean that Kurtzman is leaving the final frontier behind. In addition to Discovery, the veteran writer and producer is currently overseeing a number of Star Trek projects for CBS All Access. Those include a Discovery spinoff starring recurring Discovery cast member Michelle Yeoh (Crazy Rich Asians), an animated comedy called Lower Decks, and a Star Trek: The Next Generation sequel that will see Patrick Stewart return as the former Enterprise captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Star Trek: Discovery, which is currently in the middle of its second season, stars The Walking Dead‘s Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham, a science officer onboard the titular starship. The show takes place about 10 years before the first Star Trek series, which was created by Gene Roddenberry and aired from 1966 to 1969.
Despite the earlier timeline, Discovery is full of nods to classic Trek. Discovery‘s first season had an extended storyline centered on Star Trek‘s fan-favorite “Mirror Universe,” while season 2 features Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, who captained the USS Enterprise before James T. Kirk. In addition, Discovery‘s second season added Ethan Peck as Spock, the Vulcan science officer originally portrayed by Leonard Nimoy.
