CBS All Access Heads Discuss 'Star Trek: Discovery' Showrunner Changes

Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access has had a surprising amount of showrunner changeover for a series that still hasn't debuted its second season.

Bryan Fuller co-created the series and was meant to serve as showrunner, but parted way with CBS early on. That left Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg in charge. They saw the series through its first season but were ultimately fired for their behavior inside the writers' room. Co-creator Alex Kurtzman took over as showrunner for the remainder of the second season.

CBS All Access EVP of original content Julie McNamara spoke to Deadline about the showrunner situation at the Television Critics Association press tour.

"I think the good news in this most recent situation is that Alex has always been very much involved creatively from early on and very much aware of what was going on in the writers' room with long arc storytelling and episodic storytelling," McNamara said. "He got the vibe of the show we were all trying to create, he's been on set a lot, he directed the first episode this season. So, it ended up from that standpoint being pretty seamless. Look, it's never fun when there is change and people leave, but, in this case, with Alex and bringing in James Duff to help, who is such a pro and a great person, we've been able to move forward without much of a hiccup."

Duff was recently added as an additional executive producer on Star Trek: Discovery after Kurtzman took over as showrunners, but McNamara and CBS TV Studios president David Stapf clarify that Duff is not sharing Kurtzman's showrunner duties, but serving as a right-hand man to Kurtzman to help oversee the writers' room.

"He's an enormous fan of Star Trek, and it's been really wonderful that we've had really talented people coming out of the woodwork the last three years to say, 'I would give anything to work on Star Trek, I love Star Trek,'" Stapf said.

"Michael Chabon (executive producer on the Patrick Stewart Star Trek series) is an example of that. Here's a prize-winning author who says 'I want to be involved in Star Trek, please let me do something,'" Stapf added.

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the United States, through CraveTV in Canada and through Netflix in other international markets. Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto and will premiere in January 2019.

Which Star Trek: Discovery characters would you like to see get their own spinoff series? Let us know in the comments!