Pop Goes The News — Production of the new Star Trek series for CBS will beam down into Toronto this fall.
Studio space, beginning in September, has been booked for the first Star Trek series since Enterprise ended its four-season run in 2005.
Production will take place on Stage 4 of Pinewood Toronto Studios.
CBS announced last November it was rebooting the franchise for its All Access streaming service (though the first episode will debut on the broadcast network).
No announcement has been made about a Canadian broadcaster or streaming partner.
Still untitled, the series will introduce new characters to the Star Trek universe and won’t be related to the Vancouver-shot feature Star Trek Beyond, which opens in July.
CBS is required to leave at least six months between the theatrical release of Star Trek Beyond and the premiere of its new project.
“The brand-new Star Trek will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations,” reads a description from CBS, “while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966.”
MORE: Quantico moving from Montreal to NYC for season 2
The series was created by executive producer Bryan Fuller, who shot three seasons of NBC’s Hannibal in Toronto and is currently in the city overseeing production of the Starz series American Gods.
Fuller, who made his TV debut in the ’90s as a writer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, also made the short-lived 2004 series Wonderfalls in Ontario.
“It is without exaggeration a dream come true to be crafting a brand-new iteration of Star Trek with fellow franchise alum Alex Kurtzman,” Fuller said in a press release last year, “and boldly going where no Star Trek series has gone before.”
Also serving as an executive producer is Rod Roddenberry, the 42-year-old son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
No casting details have been announced for the new Star Trek.
The series will be the most Canadian in the Star Trek franchise since the original in the late ’60s, which starred Montreal’s William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Vancouver-born James Doohan as Scott.
Toronto’s iconic City Hall appeared in a 1989 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Toronto is no stranger to producing sci fi for television — The Expanse, Killjoys, and 12 Monkeys are among the shows shot in the city.
The original Star Trek series ran for only three seasons beginning in 1966. There were four other live-action Star Trek series on television between 1987 and 2005.
Beyond will be the 13th movie in the franchise since 1979. Star Trek Into Darkness grossed $467 million worldwide in 2013.
Star Trek stars in Canada this year
René Auberjonois of Deep Space Nine and John de Lancie of The Next Generation are scheduled to appear at Ottawa Comiccon (May 13-15).
William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols of the original Star Trek and Kate Mulgrew of Voyager are scheduled to appear at Montreal Comiccon (July 8 to 10).
Shatner, Nichols, Mulgrew and George Takei are scheduled to attend Fan Expo in Toronto (Sept. 1-4) as well as Brent Spiner of The Next Generation.
POP GOES THE NEWS 