Bryan Fuller steps down as Star Trek: Discovery showrunner
by Doc on Oct.26, 2016, under Television
It seems Bryan Fuller’s rather full plate was too much for CBS Television Studios to consider sharing…TV Line reports that Fuller is stepping down as the showrunner for the upcoming CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery. It appears that there was tension between the studio and Fuller about the progress of the series, having pushed back the debut of the series last month. Fuller is also working on American Gods for Starz and Amazing Stories for NBC. Fuller will still executive produce and be involved, but executive producers Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg will now be in charge. Akiva Goldsman (Fringe, Childhood’s End) will also join in an unspecified capacity.
Fuller tweeted after the news broke and made a Riker reference…
Riker spent 7 years of TNG unready for Captaincy, @GretchenJBerg @AaronHarberts are ready. Thrilled to see them in command of the Bridge.
— Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) October 27, 2016
“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,” CBS TV said via 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.”
We’ll see how this plays out. Many fans hoped that Fuller would be the one who would see that Star Trek would be back for good on TV.