Star Trek: Discovery EP Asks for Patience with Continuity Changes

CBR

By Adam Fitch

Published Sep 22, 2017

Aaron Harberts, EP on Star Trek: Discovery, knows the series breaks main continuity, but wants fans to stay patient with the show.

Star Trek: Discovery is the latest television series to tap into the famed sci-fi franchise, and while the show may change a few things in the continuity and mythology of the universe, the creators behind the series want fans to be patient. Why? Because these continuity changes may not be as they first appear, and it'll all make sense further in the series.

In an interview with CBR ahead of the series' debut, co-showrunner and executive producer Aaron Harberts explained why fans should be patient with the brand-new Trek show.

Asked whether the series will address these crafty deviations from the main continuity, Harberts responded, "Absolutely. I wish we could watch it with them on the couch. When something looks like it is wildly divergent from what people know to be canon, I always want to say, 'Hold on a second! Just wait -- we know,'” the EP said.

He added, "Nine times out of 10, we know that we’re violating canon. We also know that two or three episodes later, we’re going to turn it. If people are patient, and sort of don’t have a knee-jerk reaction to what they’re seeing, the delight has been resolving it, tying it up, showing everybody that we’re in on it."

So, even if Discovery does seem to change things you know and love from the world of Star Trek, you should keep watching as it may not be it as first appears.

The writers and producers on the show think it adds something to the series. "That’s something that we really are excited about in terms of the storytelling," Harberts continued, "So maybe the fans go a little bit crazy on the couch for a second, but either an act later, a scene later, or two episodes later, we hope that they’ll say, 'Oh, I get it. I get what they were doing. Oh, they didn’t violate it. They weren’t wrong. They called it out and we move on.'"

In the United States, Star Trek: Discovery debuts Sunday, September 24 on CBS, before moving to the CBS All Access streaming service for follow-up weekly installments. In Canada, the series debuts on CTV and Space at 8:30 pm ET, with its second episode set to air immediately after on Space — subsequent episodes will air Sundays through November 5. Internationally, the series will stream on Netflix.