The new Star Trek TV show just dropped info on *everything*
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
If the first teaser for the Star Trek TV series left you gagging for more details, then this huge batch of intel that just arrived should satisfy your Trek thirst.
Talking to press at the Television Critic's Association tour, showrunner Bryan Fuller dropped a massive amount of new information on the show. As rumors have suggested, Star Trek Discovery returns to the franchise roots and takes place in the Prime Universe - not the JJ Abrams-created Kelvin Universe. That's sure to please Trek fans, but that's not even the juiciest bit: it's set a decade before the Five Year Mission depicted in the first TV series.
It's a prequel of sorts, then. It makes sense as the premise is based around an incident and event hinted at in the original series. Speculation has run rampant on what that might be with fans debating the likelihood of the Four Years War or the Romulan War playing a part, but Fuller refused to confirm what that throwback plotline will be. He did however reveal that it will be delivered across a 13-episode serialized season.
“To do this series, we’re telling a much more serialized story, to dig deep into a very tantalizing storyline." That storyline will also be deeply connected to the show's lead character: a female lieutenant commander of the U.S.S. Discovery. "We have a character who’s on a journey, and in order to understand something that is alien, she first has to understand herself.”
Part of the show's mission to branch out farther into new territory will also see a major perspective shift. Previous Trek series focused on the captain as leader, but this time Fuller says the commander will be the star of the show. "To see a character from a different perspective on the starship — one who has a different dynamic relationships with a captain, with subordinates, it gave us richer context.”
He adds that in order to maintain the diversity of the original series, Discovery will "absolutely" include a gay character and "new exciting aliens and also new imagining of existing aliens."
On that note, pre-existing characters from Trek TV aren't being completely ruled out, yet it's important says Fuller for the first season to establish "the greatness" of a fresh cast before any familiar faces return. Who might he be tempted to bring in? Spock's mom. With the promise of more details later this year when the show enters production, it already feels like Fuller is taking the Star Trek brand into a familiar yet fresh direction.
Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox
Star Trek: Discovery arrives on CBS in January 2017.
Images: CBS
Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.



