Star Trek: Discovery Pulled from Netflix Abroad. People Are Pissed.

Dustin Baker |

Nov 19, 2021

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek-loving folks outside of the United States received a raw deal this week.

Paramount+ announced just a couple of days before the fourth season of Discovery debuted that most international audiences would have to wait until 2022 to partake.

To our international #StarTrekDiscovery fans… pic.twitter.com/QATQzHxepK
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) November 16, 2021

The first episode of Discovery Season Four premiered in the United States on Wednesday, but much of the world has to wait. And for those who are catching up on seasons one through three, well, that’s an adventure for 2022, too.

The move by Netflix and Paramount felt extremely corporate, so naturally, Trek fans were unenthused.

Even this ordinarily positive account weighed in with frustration.

I was at @StarTrek_DST in London last week. Thousands of fans, Discovery cast members, all excited about the new series launching this month.

Then this? Paywalling it behind a service non-US fans can’t use?

Ugly, nasty, greed. So un-@StarTrek.

To BitTorrent, I guess? https://t.co/eBrPDNR494
— Tom PositiveLad (@PositiveLad) November 17, 2021

What’s more, the season premiere — the one people in the United States could actually watch — isn’t necessarily getting dazzling reviews. Read the breakdown from Space.com here.

The fourth season of Discovery still has plenty of time to recover as many episodes have yet to hit Paramount. But between the underwhelming review of episode one and the bungled international rollout, things are not off to a good start.

Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. His odyssey with Star Trek starts from beginning to finish, watching ‘The Original Series,’ all the way to the present day. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).