For its first three seasons, viewers outside of the US have been able to enjoyStar Trek: Discoveryon Netflix. But a shocking last-minute deal has left all international fans without any way of watching season 4’s premiere this week, as the series is being pulled from Netflix at midnight and it won’t be available for international viewers until 2022.
At the show’s 2017 launch, previous CBS head Les Moonves made a deal with Netflix that the latter would pay a large portion of the show’s budget to obtain the overseas rights. In the US,Star Trek: Discoverywas available on CBS All Access, whichrebranded to become Paramount Plusearlier this year. This rebrand came with an expansion of offerings and a widening global reach promised, but the expansion to international markets will take a few months, hence fans outside of the US suddenly not being able to watchStar Trek: Discoveryseason 4 until next year.
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Deadline has reported that ViacomCBS and Netflix have just closed the deal today thatStar Trek: Discoveryis set to launch globally on Paramount Plus, next year, shocking many because season 4 is set to premiere tomorrow. There will be more than 20 countries included in the non-US territories for Paramount Plus, and the first markets to getDiscoverywill reportedly include the UK, Germany, Ireland, Austria, and Switzerland. ViacomCBS anticipates further expanding to 45 markets within the next year, withStar Trektaking the forefront as a huge brand of theirs. Company head Kelly Day told Deadline today, “As we rapidly expand our global streaming footprint, we are bringing more of our top titles home to ViacomCBS for Paramount+ markets around the world.”
As many people across social media have commented, the decision is very likely to drive up piracy, especially considering that the announcement comes so soon before the 4th season’s premiere and that most of the show’s viewership is outside of the US. The move may even serve to conclude the whole show for many fans, as it will be extremely hard to avoid spoilers. It isn’t clear what brought on such a sudden move. Anthony Rapp, who plays Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets in the series, tweeted that the news came as a shock to cast members as well. The show was recently praised for breaking boundaries withStar Trek’s first non-binary and transgender characterscast last year.
While fans also wait for thenewStar Trekmovie in developmentbyDiscoverywriter Kalinda Vazquez, many are also wondering what will happen with other contemporaryStar Trekshows.Picard,Lower Decks, andProdigyall currently stream across different platforms outside of the U.S. or North America, so it seems likely they will also be migrated to appear solely on Paramount Plus next year. Whether or not viewers will want to fork out for yet another streaming service is another matter.
Star Trek: Discoverypremieres on Paramount Plus in the US and CTV’s Sci-Fi Channel in Canada on November 18th, 2021.
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