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Bryan Fuller is the newest guardian of the "Star Trek" legacy — at least the television part of it. The veteran producer is the showrunner of the seventh "Trek" series, which premieres in January.
That will be more than half a century after the original series debuted, and the franchise is still going strong.
"The thing that I think makes 'Star Trek' such a lasting, vital part of pop culture is it's us," Fuller said. Whereas "Star Wars" — "which I love just as much as 'Star Trek'" — is set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, " 'Star Trek' is us and where we're going."
And while there are certainly dark elements to "Trek" — 7 million Floridians killed by the Xindi in "Enterprise"; 6 billion Vulcans killed in the 2009 reboot movie; many billions killed in the Dominion War in "Deep Space Nine" — "Star Trek" has, overall, presented a hopeful view of the future in all of its incarnations.
"That sense of hope is something that can't be undervalued, particularly where we are today," Fuller said.
The "Trek" tradition of social commentary will be "vital" to "Discovery." And Fuller said he fully intends to continue the "wonderful expression of diversity" that has been a hallmark of "Star Trek." Casting is still under way, but the lead character will be female and there will be more aliens than in the past, "because usually you've got one person with a bumpy forehead and then seven other people who look relatively human."
He promises "new, exciting aliens and also reimaginings of existing aliens."
"The way you're seeing aliens in this environment is something that I'd been dying to do since I worked on 'Star Trek' the first time," Fuller said.
(Before he created and produced shows like "Dead Like Me," "Wonderfalls," "Pushing Daisies" and "Hannibal," Fuller was a writer on "Deep Space Nine" and a writer/producer on "Voyager.")
"Discovery" will go where no "Star Trek" series has gone before — one of the regular crew members will be gay. (Lt. Sulu was revealed as gay in this summer's "Star Trek Beyond" film, but he was straight in the original series.)
"Discovery" will premiere on the CBS broadcast network, but ensuing episodes will be on the subscription-only, online CBS All Access, which means "slightly more graphic content," Fuller said — more like the three theatrical reboot films, which were all rated PG-13.
"We're going to have a broader spectrum to explore those issues, but it is still 'Star Trek,' " Fuller said.
It's been 47 years since the original series ended; it's been more than 11 years since the most recent series, "Enterprise," ended. And in that time, makeup and special effects have made major advances.
"We're producing the show in 2016, so we have to update the style of the sets, the style of the makeup prosthetics and the style of the effects," Fuller said. "And for me, that's the most exciting part. Because as a 'Star Trek' fan, I would see an episode and want it to go just one step further into the … science-fictionalization of what it is to meet something that is different than you.
"And we have the opportunity to pull that off with a much higher level of production value."
On TV
The two-hour premiere of "Star Trek: Discovery" will air in January on the CBS broadcast network. Ensuing episodes will be seen only on the subscription streaming service CBS All Access.