New ‘Star Trek’ series voyages to Canada with Bell

Bell Media has acquired Canadian rights from CBS Studios International to the new Star Trek series focusing on Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard character.

News of the Canadian deal follows an announcement earlier this week that Amazon has taken international rights to the show in more than 200 territories outside the US and Canada.

The new, as-yet-untitled Star Trek series sees Patrick Stewart returning to his role as Jean-Luc Picard, which he played for seven series on Star Trek: Next Generation. The series will follow the character in the next chapter of his life.

The latest addition to the Star Trek franchise will air in Canada day-and-date with the US on Bell Media’s cable networks, Space (in English) and Z (in French). The following day, the series will stream exclusively on Crave, Bell Media’s SVOD service.

In the US, the series will be available exclusively on CBS All Access, CBS’ SVOD service.

The series will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.

Alex Kurtzman, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, James Duff, Patrick Stewart, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth are executive producing and Aaron Baiers (Secret Hideout) is co-executive producer with Kirsten Beyer as supervising producer.

“Bell Media has been a terrific home for Star Trek: Discovery, so we’re thrilled to expand our partnership with the next original series in the franchise, and one that is based on a beloved Star Trek character,” said Armando Nuñez, president and chief executive officer of CBS Global Distribution Group.

“Canadians have an insatiable appetite for the Star Trek franchise, which has resulted in premium impact for our platforms,” said Mike Cosentino, president of content and programming at Bell Media.