Arguably one of the most important and influential TV shows in history, it was quite a trying time for the Star Trek franchise over the last few years when the studio/corporate structure split into separate entities back in 2006.
Essentially what this meant was the rights to any films in the franchise were in the hands of Viacom through Paramount, while CBS had the rights to the TV series. There were, however, talks between the two companies earlier this year about a possible merger to bring everything back together.
Now, according to a story from The Hollywood Reporter, that merger has gone through and closed, finally bringing the franchise once again under the same corporate umbrella. Yes, both Viacom and CBS Corp. have now reunited, which was made official at the end of market close this Wednesday, and along with the merger, other studios and businesses have been brought together, too, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.
Of course, this will be good news for Star Trek fans, as there’s now potential for both the films and TV shows to cross over with one another, whereas before they were separate, despite being from the same fictional universe. This also means that popular characters could show up in either the films and/or the TV series, opening a new world of storytelling possibilities.
Speaking of which, CBS All Access will be airing the new Star Trek: Picard on January 23rd, 2020, while Star Trek 4 is reportedly back on track, too. And with everything now back under one roof as it should be, it seems like the next couple of years are going to be pretty exciting for Trekkies across the globe.
