Star Trek fans were devastated when it was announced about a year ago that acclaimed writer Bryan Fuller had bowed out of the showrunner job on Star Trek: Discovery. After working on Deep Space Nine and Voyager as a young, up-and-coming scribe, Fuller seemed like the perfect person to bring the franchise back to its traditional home on the small screen. Unfortunately, his prior commitments to American Gods prevented him from helming the show.
Well, at least, that’s what we were told at the time. Thanks to a new report from Variety, however, we’ve learned that Fuller was actually forced out of his role of on Discovery due to his work methods clashing with CBS bosses. Fuller’s known for his innovative writing and so is obviously keen to perfect his scripts before they head in front of cameras. As Variety puts it, he’s not someone who “prioritizes deadlines and budgets above all else.”
As such, this meant that production on Discovery was severely delayed. In September 2016, Fuller and Discovery co-creator Alex Kurtzman had to tell CBS CEO Les Moonves that the series would not be ready for its highly-publicized January premiere. “It wasn’t his favorite news, but he understood it,” Kurtzman said to Variety.
Les than a month later, the delays apparently got too much for CBS and Fuller departed the production. Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem like there’s any ill-will between the parties. Certainly not on the CBS side, as Kurtzman is full of praise for Fuller while Moonves calls hims “brilliant.” Fuller’s influence still remains on Discovery, too, as he’ll get a story and screenplay credit on the show’s premiere, alongside Kurtzman and exec producer Akiva Goldsman.
We’ll get to see quite soon if Star Trek: Discovery is worth its long road to the screen and whether getting rid of Fuller was the right decision, as it lands on CBS All Access on September 24th.
