Former STAR TREK: DISCOVERY showrunner Bryan Fuller, who left the role back in October, elaborated today in a new Newsweek interview that he’s at this point, totally out of the show’s leadership team – despite his ‘executive producer’ title.

It’s a bit different than the October story, first reported by Variety, that Fuller “will still be involved in breaking stories” for the new series – today’s comments seem to indicate that he’s no longer involved in that as well.

It is bittersweet – but it was just a situation that couldn’t be resolved otherwise…so I had to step away.

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.

[If there’s a second season,] they have my number and if they need me I will absolutely be there for them.

Fuller elaborated on his reasons for leaving the series, connecting his departure to his ongoing involvement in the upcoming American Gods television adaptation and the timetable CBS laid out for DISCOVERY development and pre-production.

I could not do what CBS needed to have done in the time they needed it done for Star Trek.

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.

He did say, however, that he believes CBS shares his vision for the new series, and that team overseeing the show will align with Star Trek‘s established legacy.

Creating [Discovery] and getting to the heart of what the important themes were to me as a Star Trek fan— how do we get along with people who are different than ourselves? How do we find common ground? How do move into the future together?

Those themes were implicit in the scripts that I wrote before I left, and the storylines [planned].

We’ll see how that works out when STAR TREK: DISCOVERY debuts next May.