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The producer behind such cult favorites as Pushing Daisies and Hannibal will be heading up another cult favorite when he begins as showrunner for the new Star Trek series. Bryan Fuller will be returning to the franchise as both a fan and professional; As a young writer he worked on both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. After 15 years Fuller is returning to the show that launched his career. He told Entertainment Weekly, “My very first experience of Star Trek is my oldest brother turning off all the lights in the house and flying his model of a D7 Class Klingon Battle Cruiser through the darkened halls.”
He’s been talking about putting Trek back on television since at least 2013, telling Craveonline, “Having spent four years on staff and another year of freelancing before that on Star Trek, it’s a very near and dear property to my heart, and also a philosophy. I would love to create a Star Trek show, so that’s on my dream docket. I think there’s something very exciting about the new J.J. Abrams-verse, and there’s also kind of an interesting reinvention. How would The Next Generation evolve from that? Where would that be? Where would that go? But there’s also … Star Trek is such a big universe, and there are so many places to go with it. I have a very specific idea that I would love to do. We’ll see if I ever get the opportunity.”
Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman is returning to the franchise as well, after 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. “Bringing Star Trek back to television means returning it to its roots, and for years those roots flourished under Bryan’s devoted care,” he said. “His encyclopedic knowledge of Trek canon is surpassed only by his love for Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic future, a vision that continues to guide us as we explore strange new worlds.”
The new series is being developed exclusively for the streaming service CBS All Access, with a pilot to air on the network in 2017. Fuller’s future is looking very busy with Trek on top of showrunning Starz’s American Gods and developing NBC’s Amazing Stories reboot.
