While out promoting his new film The Mummy, Star Trek: Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman took time to speak to Collider about the upcoming show. He talks about the departure of original showrunner Bryan Fuller last October and says that even with Fuller out, his influence strongly remains with the show:

“He’s just unbelievably brilliant and I really, really loved working with him and I loved seeing the way that his mind worked. Bryan was very involved in American Gods and I think that the scope and scale of what Trek has become made it so that Bryan elected to say, ‘I don’t wanna short-change either of these two things,’ they’re both sort of beloved to him, so we sat down and we figured out how are we going to take what we can have of you and continue that through not only this season of Trek but hopefully set up things that are coming next season. So much of what’s there in terms of story and certainly in terms of set-up, character, big ideas, the big movement of the season, that’s all stuff that Bryan and I talked about.”

5 episodes in – hints at celebrity cameos

As for the state of production, which began at the end of January, Kurtzman confirmed they were currently shooting the 5th episode of the 15-episode first season and he addressed the delays on the show, saying it was because the original “vision expanded” and CBS were “extremely supportive” to giving them more time, noting as the show was on a streaming service and they didn’t have to “beat out right away.”

Kutzman also hinted that we may see some celebrity cameos in Star Trek: Discovery, noting:

“So many actors are fans. We literally got a list of them that were like, ‘Here are people who said they want to be on Star Trek’. It was awesome… To just be in an episode or come in or out.”

There is more in the full article at Collider including Kurtzman talking about the importance of having an LGBT character.

Sonequa at CTV Upfronts

In other Star Trek: Discovery news, yesterday Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green appeared made an appearance during the CTV Upfronts presentation in Toronto, which is also home to the show’s production. She gave a mostly boilerplate statement, saying in part how Discovery is “connected to a remarkable history of storytelling”, and how all involved in the show are”tremendously honored to share an enduring legacy that has lived long and prospered.”

You can see her statement in this Instagram video via Black Cosmopolitan:

In Canada, Star Trek: Discovery will premiere on CTV the same night as it does on the CBS Television Network in the U.S.A. Subsequent episodes will air on the Space Channel and via the CraveTV streaming service.

Keep up with TrekMovie for all the Star Trek: Discovery news.