Star Trek Discovery: Cast, Time, And What You Need To Know Before New Series' Release On CBS And Netflix

Star Trek: Discovery is coming to CBS and the network's streaming service, All Access, on September 24 at 8:30 PM ET/5:30 PM PT. It's the first time in 12 years that Trekkies have seen their favorite franchise on the small screen, with Star Trek: Enterprise ending in 2005. Now, a new ship and crew are taking off into space on a whole new adventure, and we're going to break down everything you need to know about the new show before its premiere. You can also check out Discovery's new opening title sequence and the New York City stunt involving the Discovery.

Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company.

If you're looking to watch Discovery, it won't be as simple as tuning into CBS every Sunday night. Only the first episode of the series will appear on network television. After that, you'll have to subscribe to the streaming service CBS All Access to catch the rest. The base price for the service is $6 a month, but that comes with a one-week free trial. CBS All Access is available through your PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, as well as a few other options.

For further specifics, check out our full guide on how and where to watch Star Trek: Discovery.

The first season of the show will consist of 15 episodes. It will start on September 24, and the finale will air on February 18, 2018. However, there will be a two-month, mid-season break from November 7 until January 7, 2018.

Discovery takes place in the main Star Trek universe, not the JJ Abrams-created parallel universe from the recent feature films. The series takes place just 10 years prior to the events of the original 1966 series. In one decade, fashion changed a whole lot at Starfleet.

For the first time in the history of the franchise, the main character for the Star Trek series will not be the captain. Walking Dead's Sonequa Martin-Green will star as First Officer Michael Burnham, and she'll be taking orders and giving them as well. It will be interesting to see how she deals with Captain Philippa Georgiou in situations where they may not agree with each other--we get a little bit of that through various trailers.

Even more interesting is the face that Burnham was raised by a Vulcan. Piecing together bits and pieces from teasers and trailers, her parents were killed on Vulcan after a Klingon attack, which Ambassador Sarek felt responsible for, so he raised Burnham on his own. Star Trek obviously has a long tradition of putting Vulcan ideology into the show, and Discovery will be no different, even if Burnham is human.

Sarek has appeared in many of the movies that feature his son, Spock. According to IMDb, he'll only appear in one episode, he'll be playing the father-figure for the main character. James Frain (Gotham, True Detective) will play the role of Sarek in his one appearance, which comes during the premiere episode

Star Trek has its fair share of alien species, but Discovery will be the first in the franchise to introduce the Kelpian. This species has a heightened awareness of danger and can sense when death is coming (via EW). Doug Jones (Hellboy) will play the Kelpian Science Officer and Lieutenant Commander Saru.

Early on, we knew that Klingons would be the villains for the this season. Set photos back from February revealed this, and like many of their appearances in the Star Trek franchise, they will be on the warpath. Remember, they are the reason First Officer Burnham's parents are dead.

Even if you're a casual fan, you may have noticed the Klingons on Discovery look nothing like the ones from Star Trek: The Next Generation, specifically Worf. There's a reason for that. During a panel at an event in Las Vegas (via TrekMovie), Kenneth Mitchell, who plays Klingon commander Kol explained that the Klingon Empire is made up of 24 different houses, and each of those houses has different ideologies, clothing, and even physical appearances. The series will showcase how diverse this alien species actually is.