“We’re absolutely continuing with that tradition”.
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Bryan Fuller will headline the new streaming iteration of Star Trek as co-creator and executive producer, while Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer has also joined alongside Gene Roddenberry’s son Rod, fan-favorite Voyager novel alum Kirsten Beyer, franchise vet Joe Menosky and Heroes writer Aron Coleite.
But Fuller claimed that he received hate mail for suggesting there could be a gay character on the series and vowed that if he ever got the chance to make his own Star Trek, he’d make sure there was a gay character.
“Star Trek: Discovery” will also have a female lead, who could possibly be an actress of color.
The start of production on the new “Star Trek” TV series is a month away and the debut date isn’t until next January, but the effort to build fan interest is already in motion – if not at warp speed. In preparation to cast the role, Fuller met with Mae Jemison, the first black woman to go into space, in order to get an understanding of her perspective as to what it is like for a woman who works in the sciences today considering there are still many issues when it comes to women and race, and what that will look like 250 years from now when equality, regardless of sex or race, is more accepted. “The story that’s fascinating for me is that we’ve seen six series from captain’s point of view and to see one from another point of view gives us a richer context”. We haven’t cast her yet, so we don’t know what level of diversity she will be, but that’s forefront in our minds.
In addition to human diversity, fans can expect to see more alien characters on Star Trek: Discovery than they have in past Star Trek series.
“There’s a reason why we call it “STD”, Fuller said, referencing the show’s unfortunate acronym.
Casting for the series set aboard the U.S.S. Discovery has yet to be announced.
Fuller has also hinted on the history of Starfleet, which he said had been talked about in previous franchises but was never fully explored. The event? Fuller wouldn’t say. But “Discovery” will be much closer in time to Capt. James T. Kirk’s world, so it will be able to play with the design “iconography” of those spaceships and uniforms, Fuller said.
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– The aliens will be new and improved, and probably in greater numbers than typical for “Star Trek”. Amanda Grayson, Spock’s mother, is one who “could factor in”, Fuller told the Television Critics Association.
