Trio Of “Hannibal” Stars Nearly Did “Discovery”

NBC
Back in 2016, “Hannibal” creator and showrunner Bryan Fuller was all set to serve as showrunner on “Star Trek: Discovery,” a new series that would relaunch the franchise in its natural home – television.

Fuller famously exited the project in October that year, his co-creator Alex Kurtzman and his producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts taking over – the latter two serving as showrunners for that first season.

Fuller ultimately penned the first two scripts and mapped out the larger arc for the series, but a long-standing question is how much of his original vision for the show survived in the translation to screen.

In 2017 it was revealed Fuller was considering doing the series in an anthology format with different eras of “Star Trek” explored with each new season. This week, speaking to the podcast The D-Con Chamber) (via Inverse), Fuller has gone into more detail about his original take.

He confirms he was part of the decision that saw Michelle Yeoh cast as Philippa Georgiou and fought for Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham, but they weren’t the only ones he had in mind.

A trio of actors from his “Hannibal” series were looking to make the jump, starting with the fact he was “talking to Richard Armitage” about playing Spock’s father Sarek.

He also confirmed Gillian Anderson was being sought to play a Starfleet captain, and the show was also aiming to have Laurence Fishburne as a Klingon. Another change was that Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz’s roles were originally flipped, with Rapp as an ‘Andorian doctor’.

He added that on his last week on the series, he “approved the Starfleet uniforms, which they tossed out, and rejected the Klingons, which they kept.” Both the uniforms and shifted Klingon design were met with controversy and were ultimately put in the rear view mirror.

Fuller got his start working on episodes of the acclaimed “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and the less well-regarded “Star Trek: Voyager” before he went on to forge his noted producing career. He also confirmed his double commitment as the showrunner of “American Gods” is the main reason he ended up exiting ‘Discovery’.