‘Star Trek: Discovery’ seems too big to fail

Count me among the early skeptics. I wasn’t so sure that “Star Trek: Discovery,” as a streaming show, would even secure a two-year mission.

Granted, the franchise’s fan base is loyal, following the tales from the bridge through a half-century of screen iterations. Yet it still seemed a tall order that a new version could genuinely thrive without a broadcast platform — at least enough to satisfy a huge broadcast titan like CBS.

In the early stages, “Star Trek: Discovery” is proving us skeptics wrong.

The new series, which launched in late September, has already been renewed for a second season, CBS All Access announced last week — after a half-dozen episodes sparked subscriber growth, Marc DeBevoise, head of CBS Interactive, said in a statement.

What was less surprising is how well “Discovery” would do on broadcast TV. The series debut drew a solid 9.6 million viewers and, notably, a 1.9 rating among prized adult viewers younger than 50.

CBS All Access has clearly invested heavily in the look and promotion of “Discovery,” so a second-season pickup was to be expected.

“Discovery,” which is set a decade ahead of the original series, concludes its first half-season Nov. 12 (each new episode lands Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time), and is scheduled to return in January.

It’s received mixed to positive reviews, but must now hold viewers over the long haul.

Then again, CBS All Access (which launched in 2014) is committed to staying ahead of the industry-wide cord-cutting trend, having poured as much as $120 million into “Discovery’s” maiden 15-episode season, according to Bloomberg.

At that rarefied price tag for a streaming series, the truer logic just might be: “Discovery” is too big to fail.