Bryan Fuller No Longer Star Trek: Discovery Showrunner

Akiva Goldsman also reportedly joining in key role.

By Jim Vejvoda

Due to the demands of having three television series in the works, Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) has reportedly stepped down as the showrunner on Star Trek: Discovery, the upcoming CBS All Access series.

According to Variety, it was decided late last week that day-to-day oversight of Trek will be handed over to the show's executive producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, both of whom are close to Fuller. Fuller will remain "actively involved" with Star Trek: Discovery but just not on a day-to-day basis. Fuller is currently handling shooting and post-production on Starz's American Gods and is prepping an Amazing Stories reboot for NBC.

Fuller scripted the first two episodes of Discovery and, as Variety notes, he "has hammered out the broader story arc and mythology for the new Trek realm." Discovery had marked a return home for Fuller, who began his career writing for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager.

Production on Star Trek: Discovery begins next month in Toronto. The show's premiere date was recently postponed from January 2017 until May.

"Sources emphasized that CBS execs have been happy with the material that Fuller has developed to date but became increasingly concerned that he had too much on his plate and there was no willingness to delay the premiere date once more," according to the trade.

Furthermore, Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman -- who worked with Star Trek: Discovery producer Alex Kurtzman on Fringe and is also friendly with Fuller -- is also expected to join the series "in a top creative role. He’s envisioned as serving as producing support for Berg and Harberts, Fuller and exec producer Alex Kurtzman as they juggle the demands of the series."

Goldsman is also running point on the Transformers film franchise for Paramount and Hasbro, and is a producer on The Dark Tower. As a movie screenwriter, his credits include Joel Schumacher's two Batman movies, The Da Vinci Code, I Am Legend, and A Beautiful Mind, for which he received the Academy Award,

Star Trek: Discovery reportedly carries a budget of nearly $9 million per episode. Variety adds that, while they have not been officially announced, the show's cast been "filled" save for its main protagonist, whom Fuller has revealed is a female lieutenant commander.

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