Star Trek: Discovery – Picture: ViacomCBS / Paramount+
Netflix internationally was expected to once again carry Star Trek: Discovery weekly going into season 4 which starts in November 2021 but sadly, that’s not to be. Having received weekly episodes between seasons 1 to 3, season 4 will not come to Netflix and adding insult to injury, the entire back library of seasons has also departed Netflix internationally.
Created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman, Discovery is regarded as one of the best reboots of Star Trek since ViacomCBS started mining the IP again back in 2017.
Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery is due to begin on November 18th. Here’s what we expected to watch on Netflix internationally weekly starting from this Friday:
“Season 4 of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery facing a threat unlike any they’ve ever encountered. With Federation and non-Federation worlds alike feeling the impact, they must confront the unknown and work together to ensure a hopeful future for all.”
Why isn’t Star Trek: Discovery coming to Netflix internationally?
In an unexpected move, Deadline reports that ViacomCBS has bought back the international rights to seasons 1-3 of Star Trek: Discovery.
Before this buyback, essentially every region outside of the United States and Canada carried Star Trek: Discovery. In total, 188 Netflix countries used to carry Star Trek: Discovery. Not only that, it does so as a Netflix Original complete with Netflix Original branding and intros.
Some of the major regions that carry Star Trek: Discovery includes:
- Netflix UK
- Australia
- India
- Japan
- Argentina
- Brazil
- South Korea
- France
- Germany
All this is because ever since season 1, Netflix purchased the international distribution rights for the show which means it’s exclusive to Netflix. In a similar vein, Amazon Prime Video picked up the international streaming rights to Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Lower Deck.
However, with ViacomCBS set to release Paramount+ across Europe, the network decided to not license season 4 to Netflix and in addition, all three prior seasons were removed on November 16th, 2021.
Star Trek: Discovery is expected to be inaccessible via streaming until 2022 which is when Paramount+ is planned to release around the world.
In the US, of course, ViacomCBS has opted to keep the streaming rights to Star Trek: Discovery exclusive to Paramount+ in the hopes that you go and subscribe to that service to watch.
In Canada, the series will remain with Bell Media and their streaming service Crave for the foreseeable.
Star Trek: Discovery season 4 – Picture: ViacomCBS
Of course, it’s been a bad time to be a Star Trek fan if you only have Netflix in the US. The service just recently lost all of the classic Star Trek series while international regions clung on to them but with this news, we don’t suspect that’ll be forever.
How will you be watching Star Trek: Discovery season 4? Let us know in the comments down below.