Writer Bryan Fuller has been announced as the showrunner for CBS’ new Star Trek series.
Fuller is a self-described longtime fan of the Star Trek franchise. Fuller began his career working on Star Trek. He was a contributing writer for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Fuller will also serve as executive producer on the series alongside Alex Kurtzman. Kurtzman has previously worked as producer and co-writer on JJ Abrams’ 2009 reboot film and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness.
Fuller has been the showrunner for several critically acclaimed series. His work includes Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, and Wonderfalls. Fuller was most recently the showrunner on NBC’s series Hannibal, which concluded last year. Fuller is also executive producer and showrunner of the television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods. Production for American Gods will begin in April. The series will air on Starz.
CBS announced the new series last November. The show will be the first Star Trek series since Star Trek: Enterprise, which ended in 2005. The series is being developed by CBS’ digital subscription service, All Access, with minimal creative involvement from CBS. The show will be broadcast on CBS before airing on All Access. The series will be the first show to premiere on a broadcast network before primarily airing on a subscription video service or an on demand platform.
Later this year, the Star Trek franchise will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the original series, Sept. 8, 1966. The new series is set to premiere shortly after in January of 2017. The latest film in the franchise, Star Trek Beyond, is set to open this summer on July 22, 2016. The film will not be related to the new television series, which plans to introduce its own plot and characters. There has been no confirmation that the new series will take place in the timeline of the older series or that of the newer films.