Fuller Courtesy of Todd Williamson/Getty Images/CBSTVS
The 'Hannibal' alum started his career writing for the franchise.
Bryan Fuller is going back to his roots.
The veteran writer-producer has been tapped to serve as co-creator and showrunner on CBS' Star Trek reboot and will serve alongside ALex Kurtzman, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
CBS' new Star Trek — picked up straight to series to air on CBS' digital platform All Access, hails from prolific producer Kurtzman. The series is a new take on the beloved sci-fi classic, with the premiere slated to air on the network in January 2017 before subsequence episodes air on its digital and VOD platform. Star Trek marks the first original series developed specifically for CBS All Access.
For Fuller, CBS' Star Trek marks his return to the franchise, starting as a freelancer and rising through the ranks to co-producer. The Wonderfalls, Pushing Daises alum started his career on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. He wrote a combined 22 episodes in the franchise, with that tally likely to grow with the CBS All Access take.
"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,” Fuller said. “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.”
Added Kurtzman: “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.”
Added David Stapf, president of Star Trek producers CBS Television Studios: "For the past 50 years, Star Trek has been a groundbreaking franchise that not only changed the landscape of television, but made a significant impact on pop culture. When we began discussions about the series returning to television, we immediately knew that Bryan Fuller would be the ideal person to work alongside Alex Kurtzman to create a fresh and authentic take on this classic and timeless series. Bryan is not only an extremely gifted writer, but a genuine fan of Star Trek. Having someone at the helm with his gravitas who also understands and appreciates the significance of the franchise and the worldwide fan base was essential to us.”
For Fuller, he will now juggle showrunning duties on Star Trek as well as Starz's upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, the latter of which he'll oversee with Michael Green (Heroes). As for Hannibal, the veteran producer last told THR in August that exec producer Martha De Laurentiis was looking into financing for a film.
"There is something in the novel Hannibal that has not been done in any of the adaptations and I would love to explore that with Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter," he said. "I’m hoping that someday, whether it’s a year from now … two years from now … that we will continue to get to tell that story."
On the development side, Fuller is prepping an Amazing Stories for NBC. There has been no word on the fate of the weekly anthology.
Fuller is repped by WME and Lavely & Singer.
CBS
