Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 May Be Delayed by Coronavirus Pandemic

Star Trek fans may have to wait a bit longer for the third season of Star Trek: Discovery. This is due to the extra precautions being taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discovery‘s third season wrapped principal photography in February, but post-production is still a work in process. Discovery star Wilson Cruz, who plays Hugh Culber on the series, hosted a live chat on Wednesday. During the chat, the topic of Discovery came up. Cruz’s co-star Anthony Rapp chimed in via the comments section, saying that editing and visual effects work for the new season is still underway, but that the crew is now working from home, which will slow the process. Cruz later tweeted about Discovery Season Three, saying “It’s coming, but it may be a little longer than we thought… It’s coming though!”

CBS All Access hasn’t announced a release date for the new season. While series star Sonequa Martin-Green indicated in the past that it could be as soon as early 2020, there was never an official timeline for release. That said, it seems that whenever the release comes, it will be later than it could have been if not for the pandemic.

A delay in the release of Star Trek: Discovery is hardly the most important effect of the pandemic. Still, with Star Trek: Picard releasing its first season finale later this week, Star Trek fans are sure to be eager for more new Star Trek content to keep them company while they self-quarantine.

During a convention appearance, Jonathan Frakes — the Star Trek: The Next Generation star turned director who has worked on all three seasons of Discovery — suggested Discovery‘s third season will have a more optimistic tone than the previous two. That may be what Star Trek fans are looking for more than ever during these trying times.

“I can tell you this much about season three of Discovery: It is in fact much more optimistic,” Frakes said. “They’ve gotten themselves out of the Mirror Universe… After Gene died, some of the writers decided that Deep Space Nine should maybe take a different tone, which, I think, it did to certain degrees of success. The optimism that Gene infused in all of his shows and in all of us may not be as obvious as it once was, but it’s certainly the driving force of his vision and the franchise and [Alex] Kurtzman and all the people who run our shows are very conscious that that canon is important to all of you and all of us. JJ [Abram]’s movies, I thought, were very uplifting and wonderfully told stories. There needs to be conflict to make drama. So I’m here to share that Discovery certainly is taking a more optimistic, traditional Star Trek approach in next season.”

Star Trek: Discovery is expected to return to CBS All Access with new episodes in 2020.