Star Trek: Discovery is an American science fiction television series created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+).

Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Jason Isaacs, Wilson Cruz, Anson Mount, David Ajala, Rachael Ancheril, Blu del Barrio, Tig Notaro, and Callum Keith Rennie also have starring roles across the five seasons.

It has received positive reviews from critics, who highlighted Martin-Green's performance and the time-jump to the 32nd century, as well as numerous accolades including two Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for its prosthetic makeup and visual effects.

[64] Fuller had publicly called for Star Trek to return to television for years, particularly because of its impact on minority groups, as he explained, "I couldn't stop thinking about how many black people were inspired by seeing Nichelle Nichols on the bridge of a ship.

[67][71] A month later, he and Kurtzman asked CBS to delay the series' release so they could meet the high expectations for it, and the studio pushed the premiere back to May 2017.

CBS said they were still happy with Fuller's creative direction for the series,[71] but some elements that came from him, including designs and "more heavily allegorical and complex story" points, were soon dropped.

[104] Fuller wanted to differentiate Discovery from previous Star Trek series by taking advantage of the streaming format of All Access and telling a single serialized story across the entire first season,[66] inspired by the general change in television to tell those kinds of stories rather than the "new destination-based adventure each week" format mostly used in previous Star Trek series.

[109] The second season has a more episodic structure than the first, though it still tells a single serialized story,[110] and it introduces more elements from The Original Series including the USS Enterprise and its crew.

[6] They achieved this by having Discovery and its crew travel over 900 years into the future at the end of the season which Kurtzman compared to the new timeline created for the film Star Trek to avoid established continuity.

[112] Discussing what makes Discovery unique among Star Trek series, Paradise said it was the mixture of serialized storytelling and a focus on action, adventure, and visual effects.

She noted that Discovery could feel separate from the rest of the franchise following the time jump to the future but explained that the writers were always looking for ways to connect the series back to past Star Trek media to prevent this.

[1] Fuller discussed the series' casting with Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space who made a cameo appearance in an episode of The Next Generation.

[32] The character is killed off during the first season, which was criticized by some as following the "bury your gays" trope, but the executive producers immediately released a statement with Cruz and LGBTQ media monitoring organization GLAAD saying the relationship between Culber and Stamets would continue to be explored.

[124] Cruz was subsequently promoted from his recurring guest role to the series' main cast for the second season, in which Culber is brought back to life.

[36][126] Casting had begun by June 2019 for the new role of Adira, a non-binary character described as "incredibly intelligent and self-confident" with the potential to become a recurring guest throughout the third season.

[53] Fuller wanted to take advantage of modern effects, production design, and makeup to establish a new look for the series and franchise that previous Star Trek media was unable to achieve.

[40] Starfleet insignia badges were molded from silicon bronze, and then polished and plated by a jeweler to create custom colors for the series: gold for command, silver for sciences and medical, and copper for operations.

Phillips designed new uniforms for the fourth season that use the same primary colors as The Next Generation, with red for command, gold for operations, and blue for science.

[82] Filming for the series also takes place on location around Ontario, Canada, including at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto to portray the Vulcan Science Academy,[151] the Hilton Falls and Kelso Conservation Areas,[152] the Scarborough Bluffs,[153] the Stelco steel plant in Hamilton,[138] and the disused Kingston Penitentiary.

[163] Visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman noted that this was especially useful for creating the planets that are visited in the series since location shooting was limited on the fourth season by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[195] On November 2, 2021, a home media box set collecting the first three seasons was released, with more than eight hours of special features including behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted and extended scenes, audio commentaries, and gag reels.

[206] In the first week of Paramount+'s launch in March 2021, JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, estimated that Star Trek: Discovery was the most in-demand series on the new service.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Although it takes an episode to achieve liftoff, Star Trek: Discovery delivers a solid franchise installment for the next generation—boldly led by the charismatic Sonequa Martin-Green.

The website's critical consensus reads, "The second season of Discovery successfully—if stubbornly—cleans up the problematic storylines of Trek past while still effectively dramatizing new takes on the lore.

The website's critical consensus reads, "With less canonical baggage and a welcome dose of character development, Discovery continues to forge its own path and is narratively all the better for it.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Michael Burnham finally comes into her own—and so does Discovery—in a confident fourth season that embraces the series' more heartfelt take on the Star Trek mythos.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Lightening up just in time for one last voyage, Star Trek: Discovery concludes with a quest that sends this particular crew off in rousing fashion.

[271] In September 2016, Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer announced that CBS was working with IDW Publishing and Simon & Schuster to produce more content revolving around the setting of the series, starting with at least one novel and a comic book.

"[88][302] After Mount left Discovery following the second-season finale, fans began calling for him to reprise his role of Christopher Pike in a spin-off set on the USS Enterprise, alongside Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Spock.

[306] By November 2018, Michelle Yeoh was in talks with CBS to star in a spin-off series as her character Philippa Georgiou which would feature the secretive organization Section 31.