Star Trek was a groundbreaking science fiction television show that spawned more spin-offs, movies, and cultural references than you could shake a Tribble at. As reported on by the Nerdist, the currently untitled show next for the series has found its showrunner: Bryan Fuller.
This is great news for anyone who has seen and therefore fallen in love with Fuller’s addictive work, which includes Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, and Wonderfalls. In fact, there are three particular reasons why Fuller is the perfect person to helm Star Trek.
His Star Trek Cred Is 100% Bona Fide
Fuller started his career writing for Star Trek. His first professional credits are for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, followed by twenty-freakin’-two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. Better yet, he penned my all-time favorite Voyager episode, “Bride of Chaotica.”
According to Fuller, Star Trek is in his bones. Gizmodo quoted him as saying,
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.
Plus, he’s already been dreaming up ideas for a new series. Back in 2013, he said that instead of setting a new Star Trek on the Enterprise, he would set it on the Reliant. Bring it.
Star Trek Will Look Like a Bryan Fuller Show
Fuller’s work doesn’t merely include fantastic, fantastical storytelling. His shows have their own unique visual style. For example, the late, lamented Pushing Daisies is a candy-colored feast for the eyes, while each frame in Hannibal is a morbid delight. In fact, Hannibal’s visuals are so highly regarded that they became the subject of a book, The Art and Making of Hannibal: The Television Series.
Although Star Trek was message-based entertainment, budget concerns and 1960s effects kept its look and feel more lo-fi than it deserved. Fuller’s work will undoubtedly give us a look at the future never before seen in Star Trek.
He Will Be Able to Attract High-Quality Performers
Besides strong storytelling and visuals, Fuller also has a knack for casting exceptional talent, for example, award-winning actors Lawrence Fishburn and Gillian Anderson, in Hannibal. (And now that Hannibal has been cancelled, Fishburn and Anderson are currently out of steady work. Just sayin’.)
Not only that, he has worked with the same actors on more than one production: Caroline Dhavernas and Lee Pace, who both appeared in Wonderfalls, made further appearances in Hannibal and Pushing Daisies, respectively. Which means my fantasies of seeing Fishburn and Anderson on Star Trek could actually become reality.
Fuller has already spoken about his dream casting for the next Star Trek, back when a new Star Trek was merely a dream. And ya know what? His choices are fabulous. As he told Den of Geek,
I want Angela Bassett to be the captain, that’s who I would love to have, you know Captain Angela Bassett and First Officer Rosario Dawson. I would love to do that version of the show and but that’s in the future to be told.
Star Trek will be coming to CBS All-Access in the near yet undisclosed future, although I surmise it will land some time in 2016–the 50th anniversary of the original. CBS All-Access will cost you $5.99 a month.
What do you want to see in a new Star Trek series? Let us know in the comment section below.
Feature Image Credit: CBS