Star Trek: Discovery Will Have Female Lead, Is Set Before Kirk Era, More New Details Revealed

The countdown to the new Star Trek TV series is well and truly on, and now a lot of new details about the show have been revealed.

Speaking at the TCA (via EW), showrunner Bryan Fuller spoke at length about what we can expect from Discovery, including the lead character, the diversity of the cast, and just when in the Star Trek timeline it will be taking place.

One of the big reveals is that Star Trek: Discovery will have a female lead, but the character won't be a captain, with Fuller saying:

"Star Trek started with a wonderful expression of diversity in its cast … our lead of the show is going to be subject of that same level of who’s the best actor and also what can we say about diversity on the show. We haven’t cast her yet, so we don’t know what level of diversity she will be, but that’s forefront in our minds...

"We’ve seen six series from the captain’s point of view; 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.”

It's good to see Fuller keeping that trend of diversity, and it'll be interesting to see Trek from the eyes of not just a woman, but someone who isn't the captain.Continuing to talk of the crew, Fuller also revealed that the show will have a gay character, speaking of his experience on Vooyager, when he received hate mail after it was rumoured the show would introduce a gay character. Thankfully we've come a long way since then.

Moving on to just when the series will take place, it was announced that the series would take place in the Prime Timeline, so the series' continuity, not the recent movie one, and pre-date Kirk by a decade:

"We can redefine the visual style. We get to play with all of the iconography of those ships and that universe. Since we are doing this series in 2016, and all of the other series have been produced [at a time that] isn’t as sophisticated as we are now with what we can do production-wise, we’re going to be reestablishing an entire look for the series."

On the topic of the 'look' of the show, the recent tease of the show's new ship, the Discovery, wasn't unanimously well-received. Although obviously not the finished product, it didn't look great, but Fuller said that "the design that we leaked early on has changed considerably. But it’s still very much inspired by those [Ralph McQuarrie] illustrations.”

With the show taking place before the Kirk era, fans may be wondering whether or not some familiar characters will turn up. The answer is: not in Season 1. The showrunner said he wanted to establish the show and the new character, but "we’ll be looking in the second season to open up to more familiar characters." Fuller also gave away some details about the actual premise of the show, comparing it to a novel told over 13 episodes, and stating:

"There’s an incident and an event in Star Trek history that’s been talked about but never been explored. To do this series, we’re telling a much more serialised story, to dig deep into a very tantalising storyline. And we have a character who’s on a journey, and in order to understand something that is alien, she first has to understand herself."

It'll be interesting to see what Trekkies make of the more serialised story, and just what the show as a whole shapes up like when it finally arrives. It can't be too long before we start getting some casting news, surely?

What are you hoping for from the new Trek series? Share your thoughts down in the comments.