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[LordOfLore]

Link.

Bryan Fuller candidly discusses his exit as showrunner from Star Trek: Discovery in this week's Entertainment Weekly — including his original ambitious pitch to CBS All Access.

The Hannibal and Pushing Daisies showrunner initially wasn't envisioning a single Trek series, but multiple serialized anthology shows that would begin with Star Trek: Discovery (a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series), journey through the eras of Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean Luc Picard, and then go beyond to a time in Trek that’s never been seen before.

"The original pitch was to do for science-fiction what American Horror Story had done for horror,” Fuller says. “It would platform a universe of Star Trek shows.”

CBS countered with the plan of creating a single serialized series and then seeing how it performed. Still, the project was a dream come true for Fuller, who worked on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Voyager and long publicly lobbied for a return of the franchise to television — specifically with a woman of color at the helm.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about how many black people were inspired by seeing Nichelle Nichols on the bridge of a ship [as Lt. Uhura in The Original Series],” Fuller says. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how many Asian people were inspired by seeing George Takei [as Sulu] and feeling that gave them hope for their place in the future. I wanted to be part of that representation for a new era.”

Yet after starting work on the show, Fuller’s relationship with CBS became strained. He objected to the network's choice of David Semel, a veteran of procedurals like Madam Secretary and Code Black, to direct the Discovery pilot (Baby Driver director Edgar Wright tells us he was among those Fuller approached instead).

There were also squabbles over the Discovery budget, with the production eventually going over CBS’ original plan to spend $6 million per episode (a number that’s either on high side for an original drama series, or a bit lean for an ambitious genre show, depending on who you ask). But perhaps the toughest issue was trying to launch Discovery by February 2017, a date which some felt was unrealistic given the unique world-building demands of a premium sci-fi show.

From CBS’ perspective, sources say they were frustrated that, given the ticking clock, Fuller was spending so much time on his equally ambitious Starz show, American Gods, which was simultaneously shooting its debut season. “It wasn’t just a little teeny side job he had over there,” one insider noted. “It was a massive undertaking.”

Fuller felt he found the crucial piece of the puzzle when he met last fall with Sonequa Martin-Green to play his lead, Michael Burnham — the Vulcan-raised human Starfleet First Officer who serves under the command of Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Philippa Georgiou. "Her audition was fantastic," Fuller recalls. "I found her incredibly insightful as an actor and delightful as a human being."

Yet even that decision ran into a seemingly insurmountable roadblock because AMC would not release the actress until her Walking Dead character died on screen in May. The only way the production could hire Martin-Green was if the show’s premiere was delayed, and it had already been delayed once already.

In October, after months of backstage tension, CBS asked Fuller to step down. The company announced he would leave the show to focus on Gods and his reboot of the anthology series Amazing Stories. The captain’s chair was filled by Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg, two writers Fuller had worked with for years.

Some of Fuller’s ideas were tossed — from the more heavily allegorical and complex storyline to his choice of uniforms (a subdued spin on The Original Series trio of primary colors). “I got to dream big,” Fuller says. “I was sad for a week and then I salute the ship and compartmentalize my experience.”

Yet the piece of Fuller’s vision he was most specifically passionate about for so long — casting a woman of color to lead a Trek revival — was achieved. Producers hired Martin-Green a few months after Fuller left. Ironically, it was the production delays that made her casting possible.

Many months later, Fuller saw the Star Trek: Discovery trailer. How did he feel watching that? Fuller pauses. “What I can say is…my reaction was that I was happy to see a black woman and an Asian woman in command of a Starship.”

 

[The Elite]

So is the anthology style officially dead then?

Also, I love the new uniforms but they do seem completely out of place in Prime timeline. The TOS uniforms would look like a complete downgrade.

 

[Baleoce]

"The original pitch was to do for science-fiction what American Horror Story had done for horror,” Fuller says. “It would platform a universe of Star Trek shows.”

CBS countered with the plan of creating a single serialized series and then seeing how it performed.

Exec: Bryan, that plan sounds great. We love it, we really do. But how about if we... don't do any of that.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

Really not a fan of how disjointed his recent American Gods effort is. It's a bunch of episodes very loosely connected and ends abruptly.

 

[The Elite]

Really not a fan of how disjointed his recent American Gods effort is. It's a bunch of episodes very loosely connected and ends abruptly.

I'm not sure we watched the same show.

 

[randomengine]

Some of Fuller's ideas were tossed — from the more heavily allegorical and complex storyline

That is what made Hannibal such an incredible experience.

 

[gdt]

So is the anthology style officially dead then?

Also, I love the new uniforms but they do seem completely out of place in Prime timeline. The TOS uniforms would look like a complete downgrade.

An anthology sci if space series has gotta be expensive with new sets and models every season.


Or maybe they keep the ship and a common link between all the shows dunno.

 

[Imm0rt4l]

Really not a fan of how disjointed his recent American Gods effort is. It's a bunch of episodes very loosely connected and ends abruptly.

Wat

 

[metalslimer]

Really not a fan of how disjointed his recent American Gods effort is. It's a bunch of episodes very loosely connected and ends abruptly.

It didn't end abruptly? There was a climax of the season and it will be back next season. And it certainly wasn't disjointed. Are you thinking of a different show because AG had the same cast the whole way through

 

[excelsiorlef]

Sounds like we're all gonna wish for Fuller's version in the end

 

[geomon]

Sounds like we're all gonna wish for Fuller's version in the end

Yup, just thinking that. Damn it.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Sounds like we're all gonna wish for Fuller's version in the end

Yep.

 

[Kimaka]

The Hannibal and Pushing Daisies showrunner initially wasn't envisioning a single Trek series, but multiple serialized anthology shows that would begin with Star Trek: Discovery (a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series), journey through the eras of Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean Luc Picard, and then go beyond to a time in Trek that’s never been seen before.

Discovery could still turn out good, but I wish we would have gotten this instead. Moving through the timeline allows more flexibility with the stories you can tell in the Star Trek universe both from a lore and technological perspective. But we're getting Klingons as the bad guys again for who knows how many seasons if Discovery gets more than one. I am so sick of Klingons.

I'm happy that we got two woc in leads roles at the very least.

 

[Sloane]

Sounds like we're all gonna wish for Fuller's version in the end

No surprise there.

 

[_Ryo_]

I think the show will be alright. It's just that I think Fuller's version would have been amazing. Hannibal is amazing, American Gods is amazing.

 

[TyrantII]

CBS looked at what HBO, Netflix, & Hulu/Prime are doing and said they'd rather not have those bags of money.

Morons.

Hate to say it because it going to kill Trek for another decade, but this show is done before it even airs from CBS inability to step out of the way of a sure thing.

 

[RS4-]

Too bad something couldn't be worked out, especially since both AG and STD are filmed here.

 

[overcast]

Wow Fuller approached Edgar Wright for a pilot? Who else?

 

[Mivey]

Hate to say it because it going to kill Trek for another decade, but this show is done before it even airs from CBS inability to step out of the way of a sure thing.

Who knows. Fans grievances don't determine success, just look at Abrams Trek. Maybe this will still will spawn a whole new generation of Trek, one that is essentially redefining what Trek means on the small screen, as Abrams did on the big screen. I wouldn't like it, but I am not counting on the masses sharing my good taste.

 

[radios shipping overview]

I have no real sense of what the show might have been if Fuller had stayed on, so I will watch the show and evaluate it for what it actually is.

It's hard to imagine any of the previous Treks surviving long with a cast, ship, and set change every season. Maybe a scifi show will do that sometime in the future. I'll be happy with a conventional Trek that's competently made. Hopefully CBS will deliver that at least.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

It didn't end abruptly? There was a climax of the season and it will be back next season. And it certainly wasn't disjointed. Are you thinking of a different show because AG had the same cast the whole way through

The show was 8 episodes long right?
Just felt like nothing was achieved. Nothing happened. It ends with them having

Spoiler

Spring on their side

. Feels like a weird way to end a season.

I actually came back expecting an episode 9, thinking there was more story to be told in the season, but there wasn't.

 

[BlackBanditSho]

Link.

The series Fuller wanted to do sounds fucking amazing.

 

[JeffZero]

Still kind of glad we didn't get the anthology series. Obviously there's no way of knowing whether or not I'd have liked it, but unless the same characters were somehow able to appear in each era, the on-paper version doesn't exactly thrill me.

Still, I hope we get to see past DS9 eventually. I'm happier with sticking to one era for Discovery, though.

 

[kirblar]

I really hate the "make everything blue" thing they're doing w/ the newer Trek show uniforms.

 

[LordOfLore]

I really hate the "make everything blue" thing they're doing w/ the newer Trek show uniforms.

Yeah, same.

 

[JeffZero]

I love those uniforms. Maybe in part because they give me Mass Effect 1 vibes, but yeah. I wouldn't like them as much without the badges, but daaaaaaamn, they look good together.

 

[Blugrass]

It's too bad that Fuller isn't involved anymore. The dude has that magic touch. Hannibal is a masterpiece.

 

[DeathyBoy]

That is what made Hannibal such an incredible experience.

It did. But they want people to actually watch this show.

 

[SpaceWolf]

So is the anthology style officially dead then?

Also, I love the new uniforms but they do seem completely out of place in Prime timeline. The TOS uniforms would look like a complete downgrade.

Pretty much everything about this series seems farily incongruous with the prime timeline, especially visually, where it seems to lean infinitely more towards the rebooted timeline. Part of me wonders why they even set it in pre-Original Series era in the first place.

I would have much preferred they went with the anthology idea. That sounded a lot more interesting.

 

[duckroll]

multiple serialized anthology shows that would begin with Star Trek: Discovery (a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series), journey through the eras of Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean Luc Picard, and then go beyond to a time in Trek that’s never been seen before.

He objected to the network's choice of David Semel, a veteran of procedurals like Madam Secretary and Code Black, to direct the Discovery pilot (Baby Driver director Edgar Wright tells us he was among those Fuller approached instead).

the more heavily allegorical and complex storyline to his choice of uniforms (a subdued spin on The Original Series trio of primary colors).

Good ideas.

 

[PnCIa]

Some of Fuller’s ideas were tossed — from the more heavily allegorical and complex storyline

I really, really hope that this is not just a space phewphew laser show that the trailers imply.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

He got too ambitious and he didn't think about costs. Edgar Wright to direct your pilot? And he was still down no American gods at the same time he's trying to launch this show? Priorities my man.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I don't know why they're so obsessed with the Kirk era. TOS sucked and openly hostile Klingons suck.

 

[CygnusXS]

I'm approaching this show with literally zero faith in CBS to make something good. Maybe I'll be surprised.

 

[louiedog]

Bryan Fuller did an episode of Voyager that totally surprised me and managed to redeem one of my absolute least favorite earlier episodes of the show. I didn't think that series could pull of what he did. I won't say what it is because just mentioning the two episodes ruins the surprise which is really the only thing that makes it work. I'm sad I won't get to see more of his creative Star Trek ideas, but I guess that door isn't necessarily closed forever.

He got too ambitious and he didn't think about costs. Edgar Wright to direct your pilot? And he was still down no American gods at the same time he's trying to launch this show? Priorities my man.

Depending on when in development that happened it doesn't seem crazy. Shows like Lost had crazy expensive pilots. Jon Favreau directed the pilot of Revolution, a new property without the following and recent big budget movies of Star Trek, which wasn't even very good. That was post Iron Man 1 & 2, one of which probably made more money than all of Wright's movies combined which probably makes him even more expensive. This may have all come before it was a CBS streaming exclusive.

 

[radios shipping overview]

It did. But they want people to actually watch this show.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

It did. But they want people to actually watch this show.

Yeah that is why they decided CBS Access was the place to put it.

 

[Jarmel]

Well this is depressing.

 

[Hagi]

Anthology sounds cool, shame it has been ditched. I'm still looking forward to watching it because well not really a lot of good sci fi shows on right now.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

"The original pitch was to do for science-fiction what American Horror Story had done for horror,” Fuller says. “It would platform a universe of Star Trek shows.”

That's such a great idea, what a shame.
Oh well, I'm still excited for the show, I liked the trailer.

 

[AuthenticM]

CBS could have produced something incredibly stylish and memorable, but instead will settle with some safe boring shit that will probably be forgotten by history.

 

[ProtomanNeo]

Confused. It sounds like Fuller was making exactly the kind of show they would need on a for pay model like CBS All Access. A smart, philosophical heavy sci-fi is exactly what this kind of platform needs. What better way to get people pony up a little dough than to say basically: "Hey Trekkies and Sci-fi lovers you've been asking for this for years, so here it is. We made this show just for you. There's no way we could ever air this on network television because we have to cater to the lowest common denominator." I'll reserve judgement but everything I've seen thus far looks like it's trying to cater to everyone, just with a larger budget.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Yeah that is why they decided CBS Access was the place to put it.

Is it shade if I'm concurring Hannibal is a masterpiece?

I mean it is. But CBS don't want "right, let's slow-motion this scene so ninety seconds becomes five minutes and then have some deer imagery here" from their new Star Trek series.

I love Fuller's stuff, but God knows why they went to him to reboot their Star Trek TV franchise. Dude is not interested in making a mainstream streamlined show.

 

[A-V-B]

Once again the industry rejects good ideas and Edgar Wright. Literally tossing away success.

Beginning to feel that rebellious spirit that must've filled Coppola, Scorsese and Lucas's veins in the early days lol

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Reading this makes me sad. I'm totally going to watch this series but I have some doubts. Fuller's vision sounds so much better to me.

Also, gotta say that "Mortal Coil" written by Fuller is one of the most powerful Trek episodes I've ever seen. I cried so hard during that Voyager ep while watching the series for the first time a few months ago. The fact that a Neelix focused episode could become one of my favorites shows just how talented a writer Fuller was.

 

[Decado]

Anthology style isn't terribly appealing. Not sure how this will turn out, but I'm not sad that Fuller's vision wasn't realized.

 

[duckroll]

I love Fuller's stuff, but God knows why they went to him to reboot their Star Trek TV franchise. Dude is not interested in making a mainstream streamlined show.

I mean if you think about it. This is a show that's headlining CBS' subscription streaming service in the US. For the rest of the world, it'll be a Netflix show. It's... not exactly a show for "mainstream streamlined" services so much as semi-prestige television.

 

[CloudyTuba]

Usually when people hear about could-have-beens they get a case of grass-is-greener motivated more by fascination than anything else.

But in this instance I have to say that every single revealed tidbit about Fuller's original plan sounds legitimately more appealing to me than what's been stated to be the final decision. I am sad reading this.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Anthology style isn't terribly appealing. Not sure how this will turn out, but I'm not sad that Fuller's vision wasn't realized.

No different from True Detective, which has that exact setup.

The real problem is money, in that you can't reuse sets very well given a constant changing world per season and can't very well shoot on location (yet) given a sci-fi context.

This has always been Star Trek's (and other sci-fi shows) Achilles heel. It's even a clearly visible problem in Game of Thrones, despite being fantasy and having a lot of money thrown at it.
Hell, even Westworld with its 100 million dollar budget (which is more per episode than Discovery will have btw) could only use so many sets.