Alex Kurtzman Taking Over As Showrunner for ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
Star Trek: Discovery is getting a new showrunner for its second season. Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts will no longer serve as showrunners and will be replaced by Alex Kurtzman for season two. This is the second time the CBS All Access series has had a change in showrunners. Discovery is the first Star Trek TV series since Star Trek: Enterprise ended its run in 2005.
The series was first announced in November 2015 with Bryan Fuller as showrunner and co-creator alongside Alex Kurtzman. Kurtzman co-wrote the 2009 Star Trek reboot film and it’s sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness. Fuller’s intent was to create an anthology series. CBS wanted Fuller to make a single, serialized show first. After multiple disagreements with CBS and struggles with other commitments, Fuller left the series in October 2016, replaced as showrunner by Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts.
In addition to serving as showrunner and executive producer, Kurtzman will now also oversee the Discovery writers room for season two.
In a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS said, “We’ve made some producer changes at Star Trek: Discovery. The series continues under the creative vision and leadership of executive producer and co-creator Alex Kurtzman. Discovery remains on course for season two in 2019 with new and continuing stories that build on its successful premiere season.”
Production on Discovery’s first five episodes of season two are near completion, with Kurtzman likely to take over for episode six onward. Berg and Harberts will likely still be credited for the episodes they oversaw. The budget for the season two premiere skyrocketed, with the overages expected to come out of subsequent episodes of the second season.
Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts were reportedly let go due to their harassment of the show’s writers. Berg and Harberts became increasingly abusive, with Harberts said to have leaned across the writers room table while shouting an expletive at a member of the show’s staff. Multiple writers became uncomfortable working on the series and threatened to file a complaint with human resources or quit the series altogether before informing Kurtzman of the issues surrounding Berg and Harberts.
Star Trek: Discovery takes place roughly ten years before the events of 1966’s Star Trek: The Original Series. Amid all the turnover, Kurtzman, who directed the series premiere, has been keeping the ship steady. CBS is reportedly pleased with the scripts for season two, which will feature Anson Mount as Captain Kirk’s predecessor, Captain Christopher Pike.
Season two of Star Trek: Discovery is expected to debut on CBS All Access in 2019.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
