New ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Details Confirm Bryan Fuller Was ‘Pushed Out’
A million voices cried out and terror, and were suddenly silenced when Bryan Fuller left Star Trek: Discovery behind. The split was said to be amicable and borne of scheduling, but new reports from the upcoming CBS drama suggest Fuller was “pushed out” after all, with scripts coming in months behind schedule.
Anyone following the show’s development will remember Discovery was delayed twice, and largely jettisoned showrunner Bryan Fuller once it became apparent that his work with Starz’s American Gods and and NBC’s Amazing Stories took precedence. At least some of Fuller’s contributions (including star Sonequa Martin-Green) made the final cut, though Fuller’s initial vision also had the new Trek series as an anthology that revisited different eras of canon.
Variety put together an extensive report on Discovery’s development, in the process revealing the break with Fuller was not so clean as initially reported:
The official line is that Fuller departed via a mutual and amicable decision to focus on his other project, Starz’s ‘American Gods.’ He is still listed as co-creator of ‘Discovery’ alongside executive producer Alex Kurtzman, who speaks glowingly of him. He shares a story credit with Kurtzman on the premiere, as well as a screenplay credit with another exec producer, Akiva Goldsman. CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves calls him ‘brilliant.’
But sources close to Fuller and within CBS say that he was pushed out. Fuller is known as an innovative showrunner and the creator of critically adored television such as ‘Hannibal.’ He is not known as someone who prioritizes deadlines and budgets above all else. In short: He is not a typical CBS showrunner. (Fuller declined to comment.)
The piece also notes that Fuller “failed to deliver scripts months after they were due,” while CBS boss Les Moonves was irritated, but accepting of the post-January premiere he’d previously announced. Additionally, Fuller was again said to have sparred with pilot director David Semel (Fuller wanted someone theatrical like Edgar Wright), while star Michelle Yeoh added:
‘It was like shooting a movie, the scale of it,’ Yeoh says of making the pilot, which was directed by David Semel, who clashed with Fuller. ‘It wasn’t just ‘Quick, let’s get the shot. Move, move.’’
We’ll see if the September 24 premiere makes all the headaches worth it, but will we ever experience what Fuller might have brought to a new vision of Star Trek?