Star Trek: Discovery: Bryan Fuller Exits as Showrunner

Bryan Fuller steps down as showrunner on the Star Trek: Discovery TV series. (Photo: CarlaVanWagoner / Shutterstock.com.).

Bryan Fuller is stepping down as showrunner on the Star Trek: Discovery TV show for CBS All Access. The co-creator confirmed the news on Twitter, yesterday. Co-creator and EP Alex Kurtzman will oversee the production, along with Fuller’s frequent collaborators, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts.

Star Trek: Discovery was originally supposed to premiere in January, but last month, CBS announced they were delaying it until May, and would instead introduce The Good Wife spin-off, at the start of the year. According to THR, because Fuller is also making the American Gods TV series for Starz and rebooting Amazing Stories for NBC, his plate was just too full.

https://twitter.com/BryanFuller/status/791432020182261760

Fuller, who originally boarded as showrunner in February, is staying on as an executive producer. He will remain involved in the creative side of the new Star Trek series. Here is more, from THR:

“We are extremely happy with the creative direction of Star Trek: Discovery and the strong foundation that Bryan Fuller has helped us create for the series,” producers CBS Television Studios said Wednesday in a statement. “Due to Bryan’s other projects, he is no longer able to oversee the day-to-day of Star Trek, but he remains an executive producer, and will continue to map out the story arc for the entire season. Alex Kurtzman, co-creator and executive producer, along with Fuller’s producing partners and longtime collaborators, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, will also continue to oversee the show with the existing writing and producing team. Bryan is a brilliant creative talent and passionate Star Trek fan, who has helped us chart an exciting course for the series. We are all committed to seeing this vision through and look forward to premiering Star Trek: Discovery this coming May 2017.”

The news comes as Fuller is busy prepping Starz’s high-profile reboot of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods as well as a revival of NBC’s Amazing Stories, the latter of which is an anthology. Fuller penned the first two scripts for Discovery and has scripted the larger arc for the series — which will see a woman captain the new ship, called Discovery. Insiders note that there had been some frustration on Fuller’s part with the speed with which Discovery was moving. CBS Television Studios has already begun marketing the series, which has yet to be cast, with panels at San Diego Comic-Con, a teaser at the upfronts and a Q&A with executives and Fuller at TCA.

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Fuller will remain deeply involved in the creative story of Discovery, with showrunning duties divided between Kurtzman as well as Fuller’s frequent collaborators Berg and Harberts (Pushing Daisies).

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Sources tell THR that the rest of the cast also will feature an openly gay actor as one of the male leads (which Fuller confirmed), a female admiral, a male Klingon captain, a male admiral, a male adviser and a British male doctor.

What do you think? Are you a Bryan Fuller fan? Are you disappointed he has stepped down as the Star Trek: Discovery TV series showrunner?