Netflix's American subscribers are about to kiss goodbye to one of science fiction's most beloved TV shows.
From April 1, Star Trek: The Next Generation will be leaving the service, meaning viewers only have three weeks or so to enjoy it.
Star Trek: The Next Generation ran from 1987 to 1994, with 178 episodes over seven seasons. With Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton and Denise Crosby in key roles, it was set in the 24th Century and followed the adventures of the USS Enterprise as it explored the universe -- all the while bumping into a series of unpleasant new acquaintances.
The show was a big hit. It regularly pulled in 12 million viewers by its fifth season, and the characters returned in four subsequent movies, 1994's Star Trek Generations, 1996's Star Trek: First Contact (1996), 1998's Star Trek: Insurrection and 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis.
At one time, Netflix was the go-to place for Star Trek fans, with the streamer boasting almost all of the films and various TV spin-offs, but no more...
Why is Star Trek: The Next Generation leaving Netflix?
Fans of the series will have known that this was coming.
Netflix lost three Star Trek franchises at the end of September in 2021, with Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise all leaving the service.
Paramount, which has overseen everything Star Trek since the late 1960s, is bringing everything in the franchise together on its streaming service, Paramount Plus. Licenses to other streaming services, most of which were agreed before Paramount launched their streaming platform, have taken a time to come to an end. But it's in sight now...
Are there any Star Trek series left on Netflix?
Yes, but just one, Deep Space Nine. At the moment, there's no end date for that show's run on Netflix, but Paramount's strategy is so clear, it could be visible from the deepest darkest vestiges of space.
Pretty soon, for your fix of Spock, Picard and the rest of the gang, you'll have to head to Paramount Plus.
Correction: March 10, 2022:
An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the scope of exploration detailed in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Patrick Stewart and his crew explored not just the Milky Way galaxy but the entire universe.
