Every Star Trek: Discovery Change From Its Original Vision Its Series Creator Just Revealed

Star Trek: Discovery's series creator, Bryan Fuller, reveals how different his original vision was from the series that eventually happened. In early 2016, Fuller was named as the executive producer of the first Star Trek TV series since Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005. Discovery was also the first Star Trek series made for streaming as one of the flagship shows for CBS All-Access before it was rebranded into Paramount+.

However, by the end of 2016, Bryan Fuller left Star Trek: Discovery due to "creative differences." Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts took over as Star Trek: Discovery season 1's showrunners (although they were also replaced at the end of the season), with Alex Kurtzman and his Secret Hideout production company executive producing all Star Trek projects on Paramount+. Controversial since its inception, Star Trek: Discovery proved to be a success, running for 5 seasons and spawning multiple Star Trek on Paramount+ series and even a Star Trek streaming movie.

Bryan Fuller was a guest on The D-Con Chamber podcast hosted by Star Trek: Enterprise's Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating. In a wide-ranging discussion about his celebrated writing career as a writer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, as well as creating the hit TV series Pushing Daises and Hannibal, Fuller dropped some bombshells about his original vision for Star Trek: Discovery. Initially planned as an anthology series with season 1 telling a self-contained story, Star Trek: Discovery radically evolved in multiple ways.

CBS Studios “Didn’t Want To Wait” For Sonequa Martin-Green

Sonequa Martin-Green Is Star Trek: Discovery's Series Lead, Michael Burnham

Bryan Fuller told The D-Con Chamber that he cast Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou in Star Trek: Discovery (Yeoh went on to play the Mirror Universe's Emperor Georgiou), but CBS Studios resisted his choice of Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham, Star Trek: Discovery's series lead: “I was fighting for Sonequa. They didn’t want to wait for Sonequa, and I was like, ‘Push the production. She’s great.’”

Martin-Green would eventually be cast as Michael Burnham, who was originally a disgraced former First Officer fighting for redemption. By Star Trek: Discovery season 5's ending, Burnham was Captain of the USS Discovery and an intergalactic hero who saved the United Federation of Planets in two different centuries. Martin-Green is also a powerhouse actor who was one of Star Trek: Discovery's greatest assets as series lead and producer.

Anthony Rapp Was Cast As An Andorian Doctor Instead Of Lt. Paul Stamets

Rapp Became Star Trek: Discovery's Creator Of The Spore Drive

Anthony Rapp played Lieutenant Paul Stamets in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, but Bryan Fuller revealed to The D-Con Chamber that Rapp was originally cast as an Andorian doctor. Andorians are blue-skinned aliens known for their antennae. In Star Trek: Discovery, Stamets was an astromycologist and one of the creators of the USS Discovery's displacement-activated spore hub drive.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds would eventually create an Andorian Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Hemmer (Bruce Horak), who was a blind Aenar, a subspecies of the Andorians. Perhaps the most famous Andorian character was Shran, played by Jeffrey Combs, in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Wilson Cruz Was Originally Going To Play Lt. Paul Stamets

Cruz Played Dr. Hugh Culber On Star Trek: Discovery

Wilson Cruz played Doctor Hugh Culber on Star Trek: Discovery, but according to Bryan Fuller, Cruz auditioned to play Lt. Paul Stamets. Culber and Stamets would eventually become the first gay married couple in Star Trek. Culber was also one of the most vital Star Trek: Discovery characters as the USS Discovery's physician and ship's counselor. When Cruz initially expressed interest in Star Trek, Fuller told Wilson he would "look awesome in a Starfleet uniform."

Richard Armitage Was In Talks To Play Sarek

James Frain Played Spock's Father, Sarek, In Star Trek: Discovery

Perhaps best known for playing Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, Richard Armitage was in talks to play Sarek, according to Bryan Fuller. Armitage played the villainous Francis Dolarhyde on Fuller's Hannibal. The role of Ambassador Sarek went to another British actor, James Frain, who portrayed Spock's Vulcan father - and the adoptive stepfather of Michael Burnham - in Star Trek: Discovery seasons 1 and 2.

Gillian Anderson Was Going To Play A Starfleet Captain

Anderson Is Best Known As Agent Dana Scully On The X-Files

Bryan Fuller revealed to The D-Con Chamber that Gillian Anderson was going to play "a Starfleet Captain" in Star Trek: Discovery, although he didn't offer any more character details. Best known as Agent Dana Scully on The X-Files, Anderson played Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, Hannibal Lecter's (Mads Mikkelsen) therapist on Hannibal. Anderson went on to win an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Crown season 4.

Hugh Dancy Had An Unknown Star Trek: Discovery Role

Dancy Starred in Bryan Fuller's Hannibal On NBC

Hugh Dancy portrayed the lead role of criminal profiler Will Graham in Bryan Fuller's Hannibal. Fuller says Dancy was also considered for an unknown role in Star Trek: Discovery. Dancy currently plays Senior Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price in NBC's Law & Order revival.

Laurence Fishburne Was Eyed To Play A Klingon

Fishburne Would Have Been One Of Many Star Trek Casting Coups

The final Hannibal cast member Bryan Fuller name dropped is Laurence Fishburne, who was to play a Klingon in Star Trek: Discovery. It's unknown if Fishburne would have played T'Kuvma, the Klingon Messiah, or if he was a different Klingon in Bryan Fuller's original Star Trek: Discovery vision. Fishburne played FBI Special Agent Jack Crawford in Hannibal. With a legendary acting career, Fishburne may be best known as Morpheus in The Matrix trilogy.

Star Trek: Discovery’s Starfleet Uniforms & Klingons Were The Opposite Of What Bryan Fuller Wanted

Discovery's Klingon Designs Were Controversial

Star Trek: Discovery's distinctive blue Starfleet uniforms and seasons 1 and 2, and Discovery's controversial Klingon designs, were the opposite of Bryan Fuller's original vision. Fuller told The D-Con Chamber, "My last week there, I had approved the Starfleet uniforms, which they tossed out. And I had rejected the Klingons, which they kept." Fuller says he has his original Klingon concept designs.

Star Trek: Discovery's Starfleet uniforms would eventually change to colorful tunics in season 4, while the Klingons were not seen again in live-action after Star Trek: Discovery season 2. Discovery's Klingons endure as a source of fan ire for radically reinventing the warrior alien race, making them unrecognizable from how they appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Apparently, Bryan Fuller is also not a fan of Star Trek: Discovery's Klingons.

Star Trek: Discovery’s Original Budget Was Too Low

Bryan Fuller Compared Discovery's Original Budget To Hawaii Five-0

Bryan Fuller also told The D-Con Chamber that the budget CBS Studios originally assigned to Star Trek: Discovery was too low. Fuller compared Discovery's original budget to CBS's Hawaii Five-O reboot, citing that a Star Trek production can't simply "go to Target and get your clothes." Fuller explained that with a Star Trek series, "We're doing something where everything has to be designed." Bryan Fuller's hints to The D-Con Chamber certainly paint a fascinating picture of what his original vision of Star Trek: Discovery might have been like.