One of the Trek community’s wishes has come true today, as CBS has announced Bryan Fuller as the new showrunner (head writer) for next year’s new CBS All Access television series. The news came via Variety, which also shared a statement from Fuller:
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. Before seeing a frame of the television series, the ‘Star Trek’ universe lit my imagination on fire.
It is without exaggeration a dream come true to be crafting a brand new iteration of ‘Star Trek’ with fellow franchise alum Alex Kurtzman and boldly going where no Star Trek series has gone before.
Fuller, who has just concluded a critically-acclaimed three year run on NBC and Gaumont’s co-production of Hannibal, has already contributed more than twenty episodes of “prime” Trek television, including Deep Space Nine entries “The Darkness and the Light” and “Empok Nor,” and an abundance of well-received Voyager scripts such as “Mortal Coil,” “Living Witness,” “Bride of Chaotica!,” and “Course: Oblivion.”
Executive producer Alex Kurtzman commented on Fuller’s participation:
Bringing Star Trek back to television means returning it to its roots, and for years those roots flourished under Bryan’s devoted care.
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.
While Fuller is about to take on another television adaption this Spring — Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, for Starz — he will be on board for the CBS All Access Trek production expected to begin preproduction later in 2016.
As a reminder, Fuller has been talking about wanting to take on a TV Trek for several years:
I told my agent and told the people of J.J. Abrams team I want to create another STAR TREK series and have an idea that I’m kicking around.
I would love to return to the spirit of the old series with the colors and attitude. I loved VOYAGER and DEEP SPACE NINE, but they seem to have lost the ‘60s fun and I would love to take it back to its origin.