Variety: New Discovery Pictures And More
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A new article in Variety focuses on Star Trek: Discovery, with pictures, comments from some of the actors, an explanation of Bryan Fuller‘s departure from the series, and the hopes of CBS executives for the show.
Sonequa Martin-Green spoke about what Star Trek means. “Anyone doing a new iteration of Star Trek, you have to understand how deep it is,” she said. “You have to understand how important it is. You have to understand how much of a pillar it is to our culture. I think you need that in order to really give it the weight it deserves, and I think that — I hope that more than anything — people get the sense of how serious we take this.”
“The world is complicated and horrible, and I don’t know how to explain to my children the insanity of the people who are in charge of it at the moment,” said Jason Isaacs, who will play Captain Lorca. “I thought it was a good story to tell — and something I would be happy to watch — about presenting a vision of the world that’s full of drama but also full of resolution and unity.”
Bryan Fuller was originally tapped as showrunner from the show, due to his “Trek cred” but departed the new series supposedly to focus on his other major project, American Gods. Variety claims though, that “sources close to Fuller and within CBS say that he was pushed out. Fuller is known as an innovative showrunner and the creator of critically adored television such as Hannibal. He is not known as someone who prioritizes deadlines and budgets above all else. In short: He is not a typical CBS showrunner.”
CBS hopes that Star Trek: Discovery draws in viewers. “The idea is that there are all these superfans out there who don’t want to pay for [large cable packages],” said TV business analyst Michael Nathanson. “If you’re able to identify people who are superfans or who are not part of the pay-TV ecosystem [but will] pay six bucks a month — it’s not going to be a meter-moving number today, but if they can grow their business to four million subs, it’s going to start being really meaningful in three or four years.”
“This was a big call for us,” said CBS‘s Les Moonves. “Getting our content online, having it streamed, having it be an important part of our company going forward, we said all right, there is no better way to launch it to the upper level than to take Star Trek, which is the family jewels, and put it there to attract millions of viewers.”
Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts are already planning ahead, even though the show has yet to air much less be renewed. They already “have a road map for season two and the beginnings of one for season three.”
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