Bryan Fuller is no longer involved with Star Trek: Discovery

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Back in October it was announced that Bryan Fuller had stepped down as showrunner on CBS' Star Trek: Discovery due to juggling too many projects at one time. In addition to Discovery, Fuller is also overseeing American Gods for Starz and a reboot of Amazing Stories for NBC. At the time it was said that CBS was very happy with what Fuller had done so far, but that they were becoming "increasingly concerned that he had too much on his plate" and weren't willing to delay the premiere again. Although he was stepping away from the day-to-day activities, it was reported that he would still be actively involved as an executive producer and would still take part in breaking stories for the new series. While it was definitely sad that Fuller wouldn't be quite as involved as we had hoped, at least he would still be a part of the team. However, it turns out that Fuller's departure is a little more extreme than we'd first heard.

While speaking with Newsweek recently, Bryan Fuller revealed that he is no longer involved, either in production or post-production, with Star Trek: Discovery. Fuller again confirmed that he stepped down from the series because he couldn’t commit to the schedule which was laid out by CBS.

Ultimately, with my responsibilities [elsewhere], 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. It is bittersweet, but it was just a situation that couldn’t be resolved otherwise…so I had to step away.

CBS had given Bryan Fuller leeway with the schedule once before, pushing the premiere back from January 2017 to May 2017, but it looks like they weren't willing to do it again. His voice will still be heard as Fuller penned the first two episodes as well as mapped out the general story-arc for Discovery's 13-episode first season, but that will be the extent of his involvement at this point. Fuller will still retain his executive producer credit and CBS has committed to "seeing his vision through," but even Fuller isn't sure how closely they'll stick to his plan, saying "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." When asked whether he would be up for returning for Discovery's second season, Fuller said "they have my number and if they need me I will absolutely be there for them.”

As for who will be involved with Star Trek: Discovery on the other side of the camera, it was recently announced that Michelle Yeoh (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON), Doug Jones (PAN'S LABYRINTH) and Anthony Rapp (RENT) were the first official cast-members to join up.