Star Trek: Why Bryan Fuller is the Perfect Choice For Showrunner

Hannibal may have gone but showrunner Bryan Fuller hasn’t been resting on his laurels. He’s about to return to his first love, science fiction, with the announcement that he’ll be co-creating and co-executive producer on Alex Kurtzman’s new Star Trek TV series – which will make its debut on CBS in January 2017.

So what can fans expect from a Fuller led, brand new Star Trek series?

Fanboy credentials

Fuller got his star on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager before demonstrating his considerable talent for creating full formed universes on shows like Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies and, of course, the elegantly macabre Hannibal.

That’s not to mention the forthcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods that’s coming together over at Starz, the first (and best) series of Heroes and a remake of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories.

It’s telling that his statement on the launch of the new show focused on his life-long connection to the show.

“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,” he 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.”

It's difficult to think of someone more qualified for the job.

Universe Building

So what can we glean from all of this? Well, there’s that keen eye for bespoke universes that attract passionate, devoted fanbases and an ability to craft long-form story arcs (especially with the Deep Space Nine, which ahead of its time in terms of crafting a show designed for box sets – before box sets existed – rather than individual, syndicated episodes).

Of his time working on Heroes, Fuller said:

“It's a type of storytelling that will either draw you in or spit you out…I happen to be one of those people that loves serialised storytelling, so I just got drawn into the format. And on Heroes, every one of the writers was bringing their A game to the table, which is why those stories broke like butter."

So anyone looking for easily digestible, single episode will be cast out into the cold recesses of space.

Diversity

Star Trek has always been about uniting different races under the banner of the federation but, within its past, there are oversights.

In the past Fuller has spoken of wanting to do a series set on the Reliant with “Captain Angela Bassett and First Officer Rosario Dawson”, which, other than sounding awesome, indicates that he would prefer to replicate the Kirk/Spock dynamic with something other than two white male leads. We’ve seen woman at the helm, particularly in Voyager, but not an incident of both leads being women – that would be unheard of for Star Trek.

And, let’s face it, it worked for Battlestar Galactica.

What’s more, Fuller is an openly gay man and, despite Gene Roddenberry’s promise to introduce a gay character 30 years ago, we’ve yet to have a homosexual character in a prominent role in a show that’s often praised for being progressive.

Back to the Sixties

Fuller has spoken before of the ‘fun’ of those early adventures for Kirk and Spock and despite Star Trek’s growing predilection for diplomacy and democracy, most people remember the fistfights, the short skirts and attitude of the original series.

J.J Abrams struck the right balance between guilty pleasure and warmly remembered traits, so, with the advantage of more time to explore the universe while crafting emotional, complex stories, could we be getting a little bit of that sixties swagger to go with our diplomacy?

Boldly Going

Let’s face it, it’s a hell of a challenge – you’ve got to please the die hard, hardcore fans who want intelligent thought provoking stories the likes of which Star Trek: The Next Generation excelled at, and you’ve also got casual fans, who have a passing familiarity with the original series and a love for the guilty pleasures of the recent movies.

Of course, neither are mutually exclusive and, being such a diverse property, everyone’s experience of the show is going to differ greatly from person to person. Fuller is going to have to draw on that lifelong love of the show to bring everyone under this brand new roof – and judging by his past, he’s the ideal man to do it.