'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 2 to Premiere in January 2019

The return of Star Trek: Discovery to CBS All Access is still a ways off, but there is now at least an end to the wait in sight.

Today during the Star Trek: Discovery panel in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, co-creator and showrunner Alex Kurtzman announced that Star Trek: Discovery will return to CBS All Access for its second season in January 2019. Kurtzman also said that the exact date has not yet been decided on.

In addition, the panel revealed the first trailer for the new season featuring Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike and announced that Rebecca Romijn will play Pike's first officer, known simply as Number One.

You can read our full panel recap here.

In addition, four short films running 10 to 15 minutes each spotlighting different members of the Discovery cast will be released in December as a kind of appetizer before the show returns in earnest. The films will be called "Short Treks."

Star Trek: Discovery Season Two picks up where the first season left off, with the Discovery coming nose-to-nose with the USS Enterprise, the famous ship captained by James T. Kirk on his five-year mission in Star Trek: The Original Series.

Only Star Trek: Discovery takes place a decade prior to the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, meaning the Enterprise is still under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. Pike was originally played by Jeffrey Hunter in the first pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Cage." Marvel's Inhumans star Anson Mount will take over the role in Star Trek: Discovery.

Pike isn't the only notable Star Trek character serving aboard the Enterprise during this time period in the history of the Star Trek universe. Mr. Spock, who was played memorably by the late Leonard Nimoy, served as Pike's Science Officer. Spock's father, Sarek (James Frain), was aboard the Discovery when it received Captain Pike's distress call, as was Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), the human who was adopted by Spock's parents when she was still a child. The new trailer for Star Trek: Discovery's second season suggests that Spock has involved himself in a mystery spanning space and time.

Are you excited for the return of Star Trek: Discovery? Let us know what you think in the comments!

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the United States, through CraveTV in Canada, and through Netflix in other international markets. Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto.