Why Bryan Fuller Left Star Trek: Discovery Before Production Even Began

The modern era of "Star Trek" on TV began with "Discovery," and while the series was a success that led to several more shows in the iconic sci-fi franchise, it could have been very different. The creator of beloved genre shows like "Pushing Daisies" and "Hannibal," Bryan Fuller was originally tapped to launch the new "Trek" series before stepping away. His development timeline and vision for the franchise simply differed from what CBS wanted.

Fuller was first brought on to showrun in early 2016, but by October, CBS asked him to step down. An Entertainment Weekly story published the next summer revealed what happened. Fuller didn't just want to do one series; he wanted multiple serialized anthology shows that would start before the era of "The Original Series" and venture into the franchise's future. The network preferred to be a bit more cautious, starting with one serialized program and going from there.

There were other issues, too, in particular disagreements about the show's budget. Fuller also objected to the network's choice of director for the pilot, as he specifically wanted Edgar Wright. Timing was another big factor; CBS wanted to premiere the show by February 2017 and was worried whether the showrunner could hit the deadline, as he was actively working on the Starz series "American Gods" at the time.

Fuller ultimately took his exit in stride. "I got to dream big," he told EW. "I was sad for a week and then I salute the ship and compartmentalize my experience."

While several of Bryan Fuller's ideas for "Star Trek: Discovery" were thrown out along with the larger anthology concept, including his proposed Starfleet uniform designs, he got his wish in one important way. Fuller wanted a Black woman to be the lead, and he really wanted to cast Sonequa Martin-Green.

"I couldn't stop thinking about how many black people were inspired by seeing Nichelle Nichols on the bridge of a ship," Fuller said of "The Original Series" and Lt. Uhura. "I couldn't stop thinking about how many Asian people were inspired by seeing George Takei and feeling that gave them hope for their place in the future. I wanted to be part of that representation for a new era."

Fuller said Martin-Green's audition was "fantastic" and that he found her "incredibly insightful as an actor and delightful as a human being," but there was another issue: She was on "The Walking Dead" at the time and AMC wouldn't release her from the zombie series. Luckily, in part due to the production delays that helped lead to Fuller's axing, Martin-Green became available after all. Two months after Fuller left the show, she was cast as the lead of "Star Trek: Discovery," the Vulcan-raised human Michael Burnham. According to Fuller, he was "happy" that "Star Trek" finally had a Black woman commanding a Starship.