Bryan Fuller will not venture into the final frontier as the show runner for Star Trek: Discovery, CBS has announced.
“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. 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,” the statement from CBS Television Studios read.
Who will take over in the captain’s chair? “Alex Kurtzman, co-creator and executive producer, along with Fuller’s producing partners and longtime collaborators, Gretchen Berg & Aaron Harberts, will also continue to oversee the show with the existing writing and producing team,” read the statement. “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 launch of the new Star Trek series, slated to appear on CBS All Access as the network’s first foray into digital-only content, has been bumpy.
Last month, CBS announced that the show’s premiere had been pushed back from January 2017 to May 2017.
Fuller, who brought cult favourites like Pushing Daisies and Hannibal to life, had been announced as the show runner and co-creator for the new series in February.
He tweeted his congratulations to Berg and Harberts as they take over his responsibilities on the show:
The show’s name, Star Trek: Discovery, was revealed in September. The 13-episode season will feature a female lead and is set to take place 10 years before the events of the original series of the show.
Long before CBS announced the new series, Fuller had been a longtime fan. He sent spec scripts to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and was eventually hired to write scripts for both that series and Star Trek: Voyager.
Last month, Fuller was one of the signatories on Trek Against Trump, an open letter opposing the Republican candidate signed by a group of people who have been associated with the franchise over the years. Last week, he tweeted a photo of his mail-in ballot with a nod to the show.
Currently, Fuller is working on the American Gods adaptation for Starz, as well as an anthology series called Amazing Stories for NBC. His most recent series was Hannibal, which was cancelled in 2015 by NBC after three seasons.
