Buckle up folks, a new incarnation of Star Trek is coming back to TV. Although the film franchise is still going strong, we have not had a new Star Trek series on TV since Star Trek: Enterprise ended in 2005. Star Trek: Discovery, which is slated for next year, will take place ten-years prior to James T Kirk (in the original 1966 series) taking the helm. Producer Bryan Fuller says the lead will be a woman, but she will probably not be the captain. She will likely be a lieutenant commander who is learning how to be successful within the Federation.
CBS All Access’ upcoming Star Trek: Discovery is starting to take shape.
The Bryan Fuller series will be led by a woman, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, with the role potentially also being diverse. The character, however, will not be a captain, with the showrunner noting that decision allows the series to explore stories from a different point of view. The top-ranking member of the fleet will instead be a lieutenant commander, Fuller revealed Wednesday at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, adding, “but with caveats.”
“We’re going deep into something that was for me always very tantalizing, and [we’re telling] that story through a character who is on a journey that is going to teach her how to get along with others in the galaxy,” he told reporters. “For her to truly understand something that is alien, she has to first understand herself.”
Fuller also added that the series will feature roughly 7 lead characters. “Star Trek started with a wonderful expression of diversity in its cast: a Russian, a black woman, an Asian, a Vulcan … we’re continuing that tradition and our lead of the show is going to be subject of that same level of who is the best actor and what can we say about diversity in every role we’ll have on the show,” he said, noting there would be a few more aliens in its fleet than previous incarnations of the franchise. “We wanted to paint a picture of Star Fleet that’s indicative of encountering people who are much more different than we are.”
Fuller confirmed that his Star Trek also will feature a gay character after he received hate-mail during his time on Voyager following a rumor that speculated that one of the show’s characters could be out. He noted that fellow executive producer Alex Kurtzman was the first to pitch the idea, which was already something Fuller had planned on including in the 10-episode series.
A lot of outlets are making a big deal that the lead of the new series is a woman. Don’t get me wrong, that’s great, but what about Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Janeaway in Star Trek: Voyager? We definitely need more women but no one is mentioning her in this discussion. I am very interested in the perspective of this new series, though. Telling the story from someone who isn’t the captain will be an intriguing perspective. Plus, a lieutenant commander has two promotions to get to captain, that arc of the story would be particularly interesting to me.
As CB reported while covering George Takei’s thoughts on Sulu being gay, Star Trek was far ahead of the curve when it came to diversity on screen. So I am happy that the franchise is trying to stay true to Gene Roddneberry’s vision. CBS’ head, Greg Geller, recently responded to criticism of their primarily white male line up by admitting they need to do better, so I believe they will try with this series. In addition to a gay character, Fuller confirmed they cast will feature an openly gay actor as one of the leads. I do know that when asked years before he was given ST: Discovery, Fuller said, “I want Angela Bassett to be the captain, that’s who I would love to have.” Well, who wouldn’t? Let’s make that happen! And just a note to CBS and Mr. Fuller – even if your lt. commander lead is a woman, it doesn’t mean your captain can’t also be a woman. Just food for thought.
.@BryanFuller confirms female lead on @startrekcbs https://t.co/w8QQ4LmBEw @SpaceChannel #StarTrek #CBSAllAccess pic.twitter.com/LAtKXfwJKn
— Star Trek (@StarTrek) August 11, 2016
Photo credit: Getty Images and Twitter
I can’t wait!! I’m a next Gen fan, Data, Worf and Captain Picard were the characters of my teenage daydreams. ❤❤❤
OMG, that’s the most boring Star trek to me, amazing how tastes can be different 😀
Deep Space 9 was the most boring to me.
Lol, i also hated deep space
Ha ha that was my favorite series too 🙂
I loved JL Picard as Captain
me too, I grew up watching the next generation. they are my favorite cast! I’m currently rewatching the whole series on netflix and it’s amazing how well it holds up, especially the later seasons.
Voyager = #1
Angela Bassett as the Captain: Kate McKinnon as the LtCdr, Alison Tollman as her fiancée back on Earth.
I’m so excited about this. So excited. The movies are great, but Star Trek is meant for TV.
And Voyager not only had Captain Janeway, it also had B’Ellana Torres, who is my favourite Star Trek character. I wanted to be her when I was a kid. And it was so cool that she was chief engineer, a role which is stereotypically male.
I also wish they’d include different nationalities. Star Fleet surely isn’t only British and American.
Honestly? I’m kinda disappointed. Hubbie and I were just talking the other day how the concept of star trek going back (in the past) is so boring and how they should move forward and show more of the future. We thought there is no way they’ll make the same mistake as with that short-running series after Enterprise, when they just started withthe warp thing (if I remember correctly). Also, the strength of the series lies in playing with the well-known scheme: captain as a lead, and all the officers as strong and interesting characters coupled with interesting adventures. Eh, I hate the fact that female lead will not be a captain.
And when this series ends up with poor viewing results, many people will blame the factthat it’s a female lead, gay character’s fault, and not the poor, boring concept.
(Long live Janeway, long live Torres, but my favourite series was Deep Space 9! Ok, and Picard:)
Deep Space 9 here as well……the Cardassians and Quark were the best ST villains .
Yay to female lead but I prefer the voyager concept where the lead is also the captain and not the equivalent of the “plucky intern”.
The DS9 approach with Major Kira is also ok in my good, because it’s a strong representation, even if she wasn’t the lead. Was less fond of Jadzia Dax.
As far as STTNG… I liked Tasha Yar, less so Dr. Crusher or councilor Troi, all that “nurturing” crap was overfilled with saccharine. Did welcome the change when they finally placed Troi in a proper uniform through the Cpt Jelicco plot line. Really liked the lieutenant commander Shelby in the “best of both worlds” double-header, pity she never made a return.
Voyager was the shiz and you know what? Janeway and so many of the other crew just nailed it, you forget there’s a “female lead” and just watch a kick azz show. Quite rad.
Loved Captain Janeway, Kate Mulgrew was fantastic. Such a great series.
While I’m very excited for this Trek, I’m sad because this means with Fuller doing this, no fourth season of Hannibal. 🙁
Just to say over the years there have been guest actresses as Admirals telling Picard what to do and one film featured a black female Captain under attack by an alien..sorry I can’ t remember which I can just picture her in her Captains chair..it was in the Kirk years…Of course there was also the Indian Tennis player would got a cameo as a Captain in the first movie …
The Russian was in the second series after the Soviet government complained they were not represented.
It has always been about a wide range of people..and dealt with themes always through all the series ..including sexual identity ..
Avery Brooks is looking good. All of them are with the exception of Shatner. I feel he deserves it.
It will fail like “Enterprise”, because they can make the show look like a prequel to Star Trek, the Enterprise on “Enterprise” looked too modern.
Yes but that was before we had the parallel reboot of the JJ Abrams movies. We now have a very updated vision of the Kirk/Spock universe too.
This “lieutenant commander finding both herself and her way in Starfleet” thing is very Kira-esque to me, but that’s not a bad thing because I love both Major Kira and DS9. It’s my favorite of the series. With Bryan Fuller it’s more likely to be more like of a Seven of Nine character evolution, which is also okay but not as good as Kira.
I loved Enterprise with Captain Archer. I thini it got judged unfairly.
Wentworth Miller.
He needs to lead in this. Or one of the leads if the captain will be female. I will watch it then. He is a great writer, is very attractive to look at, good actor, and is openly gay or bi or something. And he can lead a show.
I say Wentworth. He can play gay, straight… who cares? It is not HBO. You will not see anything explicit and ‘meaty’ anyhow.
I don’t think they meant to say anything about the gender of the captain, just wanted to emphasize this story will be told from a different point of view. And as a fan, I’m really looking forward to this. I actually enjoyed Enterprise. But then I lurved TNG and Voyager too. Deep Space Nine didn’t do it for me at all…
Fuller only has produced amazing shows so far, so I’m very excited for this.
The female lead character is in command, there isn’t a Captain above her. “The top-ranking member of the fleet will instead be a lieutenant commander”. Sisko on DS9, where Fuller started in Trek, didn’t start as a Captain either.