Bryan Fuller’s Star Trek May Go Where None Have Gone Before

I’ll get this out of the way first: I haven’t always been about Star Trek. In the long-time good-natured feud between Trekkies and followers of George Lucas, I found myself firmly on the side of the latter (but I won’t get into that whole prequel nonsense). Thanks to the internet, a resurgence of the franchise with the new series of films and encouragement from Trek-loving friends, I’ve recently started watching the original shows–and I get it now, people. I GET IT.

As someone who has always been fond of Bryan Fuller, though, the news about the Star Trek adaptation he’s bringing to CBS is leaving me beyond excited. From Wonderfalls to Pushing Daisies to Hannibal, I will pick up whatever he’s putting down–and similar to Hannibal, which managed to push some surprising boundaries, it sounds like Fuller’s Star Trek may be taking advantage of the fact that the show will be airing via the streaming CBS All Access service.

In an exclusive interview with Collider, Fuller confirmed that we’ll be getting a total of 13 episodes for the first season of the series, which will tell an overarching story over the course of those episodes. Given that the show will also be available via a paid streaming service, Fuller also confirmed that they won’t be restricted to the same rules for broadcast TV content (even if he did manage to get away with quite a lot with Hannibal while it was on the air):

Because we’re CBS All Access, we’re not subject to network broadcast standards and practices. It will likely affect us more in terms of what we can do graphically. But Star Trek‘s not necessarily a universe where I want to hear a lot of profanity, either.

Of course, standards and practices doesn’t just crack down on profane language, but I think giving Star Trek the freedom to push some of those other boundaries could be a good thing. Fuller has made it clear that he wants this new Star Trek to be representative of true progression and growth–exploring new and different worlds much in the same way of its predecessors, but at a time in television when they have more flexibility to do so. In addition to revealing that he’s casting actors for the series in “a colorblind prism and a gender-blind prism”, Fuller also said that the plan is definitely to cast LGBTQIA characters as well: “I think the progressive audience that loves Star Trek will be happy that we’re continuing that tradition.”

As a relatively new Star Trek fan and a person who tends to be cautiously optimistic, I’m really looking forward to the new shape this franchise will take in Bryan Fuller’s capable hands. What are your feelings on this news?

(via Collider)

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