Ever since the first test footage from the new Star Trek TV series, Discovery broke (see it at the bottom of the story), we've been wondering when showrunner Bryan Fuller would reveal more details. Now, talking to reporters at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, he's let loose a veritable starburst of new nuggets.
Among the revelations about the show that is due to start filming its main cast in two months? It's set 10 years before Captain Kirk in the "prime" universe, i.e. the original series, not the current set of films. "We have the opportunity to bridge the gap between the Enterprise and the original series and really help us redefine the visual style of Star Trek," Fuller said.
The setting also provides for an interesting mix of crew, with the biggest news being that the show has a female lead, but that she will not be the ship's captain, allowing for a different perspective on life on board the vessel and elsewhere. "We're going to deep into something that was for me always very tantalizing and to tell that story through a character who is on a journey that is going to teach her how to get along with others in the galaxy," Fuller explained. "For her to truly understand something that is alien, she has to first understand herself." The character is apparently a Lieutenant Commander, but with, Fuller teased, "caveats." He didn't expand on what that means, and he says they have yet to cast that role.
In addition to a character that Fuller confirmed will be openly gay (and idea pitched by co-creator Alex Kurtzman, though Fuller had already planned to include it), there will be a mix of humans and aliens in the roster. Says Fuller, "Star Trek started with wonderful expression of diversity in its cast: a Russian, a black woman, an Asian, a Vulcan... We're continuing that tradition and our lead of the show is going to be subject of that same level of who is the best actor and what can we say about diversity in every role we'll have on the show. We wanted to paint a picture of Starfleet that's indicative of encountering people who are much more different than we are." Oh, and robots. There will be robots.
The first season will, as planned, be a novelistic approach to the story, with episodes contributing to the overarching plot. In the States, the show will premiere its first episode on Broadcast network CBS before moving to the company's All Access platform. In the UK and elsewhere, episodes will arrive weekly on Netflix.