Star Trek: Bryan Fuller Joins New Series as Showrunner

Bryan Fuller will be very busy in 2017. He’s at the helm of the new Star Trek series as its showrunner and co-executive producer. In addition to this, he’s going to be the co-showrunner of Starz’ adaptation of American Gods. He will be joined by Alex Kurtzman (Fringe, Star Trek 2009) and Heather Kudin (Limitless, Sleepy Hollow) as co-executive producers.

The series is set to debut in January 2017 on CBS before moving to CBS’ All Access. It will run concurrent to the film franchise. There is no news on whether the two will crossover.

This isn’t Fuller’s first foray into the Trek universe. He has previously written for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and served as a co-producer for Star Trek: Voyager. Fuller hasn’t been quiet about his love for the Star Trek universe, having expressed interest in helming a TV series as early as 2009 and reiterating this interest as recently as 2013.

As to what direction he could take the series, he previously expressed in a 2008 interview with MTV that he felt that the series must go back to its roots and become “dynamic and passionate”. He noted that “Enterprise was the most sterile of all of them, when it should have been the most fun.”

Fuller’s other credits include creating cult hits Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies, and Hannibal.

As a fan of Fuller’s, this is extremely exciting news. Fuller has a tendency to write extremely warm, charming and multidimensional characters, as well as having a very strong hand with world-building. Both are very important in a sci-fi series as big as Star Trek. Moreover, his previous experience with the Star Trek franchise ensures that he’ll get the series “right”. It will likely appeal to older fans in addition to being very accessible and welcoming to newer fans. This is literally the best thing that could happen to Star Trek right now!