Bryan Fuller Is No Longer Involved with ‘Star Trek: Discovery,’ Calls His Departure ‘Bittersweet’
Bryan Fuller will be involved even less with “Star Trek: Discovery” than previously expected.
Several weeks ago, CBS announced that Fuller was stepping down as showrunner on the upcoming “Star Trek: Discovery” series due to a scheduling conflict with “American Gods,” the other high-concept show he’s working on.
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At the time, it was unclear how involved Fuller would remain with the new “Star Trek,” which had been pushed to spring due to delays in getting the show off the ground. (“Star Trek: Discovery” will premiere on CBS, and then move to streaming service CBS All Access.) But now comes word, via a new interview with Newsweek, that Fuller has completely divorced himself from the show.
“Ultimately, with my responsibilities [elsewhere], I could not do what CBS needed to have done in the time they needed it done for ‘Star Trek,'” Fuller told the newsmagazine. “It felt like it was best for me to focus on landing the plane with ‘American Gods’ and making sure that was delivered in as elegant and sophisticated a fashion as I could possibly do.” Fuller, who first broke through in the television industry as a writer on both “Star Trek: Voyager” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” will still be credited as an executive producer on the “Discovery” series.
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Before departing, Fuller wrote the first two episodes of the series, as well as the main arc of the entire first season. “I’m not involved in production, or postproduction, so I can only give them the material I’ve given them and hope that it is helpful for them. I’m curious to see what they do with it,” he continues. As for the prospect of contributing to a potential second season, Fuller is certainly onboard: “They have my number and if they need me I will absolutely be there for them.”
Fuller’s credits include several beloved-but-short-lived TV series, from “Dead Like Me” and “Wonderfalls” to “Pushing Daisies” and “Hannibal.”
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