New Star Trek's Showrunner Steps Down, Will Stay On as Executive Producer

Star Trek: Discovery's showrunner Bryan Fuller is no longer in charge of the upcoming series, Variety reports. Sources say his production responsibilities with two other series led to his stepping down. He will stay on as an executive producer.

"We are extremely happy with the creative direction of Star Trek: Discovery and the strong foundation that Bryan Fuller has helped us create for the series," said GameSpot parent company CBS in a statement. "Due to Bryan's other projects, he is no longer able to oversee the day-to-day of Star Trek, but he remains an executive producer, and will continue to map out the story arc for the entire season

"Bryan is a brilliant creative talent and passionate Star Trek fan, who has helped us chart an exciting course for the series," the statement continues. "We are all committed to seeing this vision through and look forward to premiering Star Trek: Discovery this coming May 2017.”

Variety says that its sources emphasized that CBS is happy with Fuller's material, but the network was unwilling to delay Discovery in order for Fuller to deal with his other projects. Fuller is currently working on Starz' upcoming drama series American Gods, while he's also gearing up for a reboot of Amazing Stories at NBC. Fuller previously wrote for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Taking over showrunning duties are executive producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts. Filming starts next month and is set to premiere in May. It was originally planned for January.

It was announced back in August that the upcoming Star Trek series would feature a woman in the lead role. It's not confirmed who will play the lead, but we do know she's a lieutenant called "Number One," as opposed to the series' tendency to focus on a starship's captain.