Star Trek: Discovery Hired Super-Fans To Fact-Check Show

Star Trek: Discovery may look different from traditional Star Trek, but it takes its devotion to franchise canon seriously.

In fact, the Star Trek: Discovery writers room includes a handful of Star Trek superfans who are there primarily to make sure the prequel series doesn’t much up established Star Trek history.

“You have got a roomful of people with very different and very devoted relationships to Star Trek in that writers’ room. And that carries on a pretty proud tradition of Trek being written by fans,” executive producer Alex Kurtzman tells CNET. “You have to respect canon as it’s being written. You cannot say, ‘That never happened.’ No, no no, you can’t do that, they would kill you. Star Trek fans would kill you. No, you have to respect canon. You have to understand the timelines and what the different timelines were and what the different universes were and how they all worked together. You have to keep very meticulous track of who, what, where, when and why. And we have people in the writer’s room whose sole job is to say, ‘Nope, can’t do that!’”

With Star Trek: Discovery taking place so close to the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, there is a high chance of continuity conflict, but at least the CBS All Access series seems to be taking all necessary precautions.

Set 10 years prior to the five-year mission of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Discovery follows the adventures of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new lifeforms, and one Starfleet officer who must learn that to truly understand all things alien, you must first understand yourself. The series will feature a new ship, new characters, and new missions while embracing the same ideology and hope for the future that inspired a generation of dreamers and doers.

Star Trek: Discovery‘s cast also includes Jason Isaacs as the starship Discovery’s Captain Lorca, Rainn Wilson as Star Trek: The Original Series character Harry Mudd, James Frain as Sarek, Spock’s father, and Michelle Yeoh as Captain Georgiou, the captain of another Starfleet ship, the Shenzhou, which will be important to the plot of Star Trek: Discovery. Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp both play science officers. Mary Wiseman will play a final year Starfleet Academy cadet.

Star Trek: Discovery premieres Sept. 24, 2017.

More Star Trek News: Zachary Quinto Reveals What He Knows About Star Trek 4 / Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Actor Becomes University Professor / Kate Mulgrew Had A Rule AboutSex On Star Trek: Voyager / Zachary Quinto On If Spock Could Appear On Star Trek: Discovery