Star Trek: Discovery Showrunners Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harbert Exit Series; Alex Kurtzman To Replace Them

 

Star Trek: Discovery is experiencing a shake-up as seismic as anything on the series itself.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, showrunners Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harbert are exiting the series in the middle of its second season amid allegations of budget overruns and abusive behavior. Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman will replace them following a previously planned hiatus in production.
Sources tell THR that CBS was quite happy with the material coming back from the program’s Toronto soundstages, but were less than thrilled when the budget of the second season debut “ballooned.” Soon after, details began to emerge of the producers behavior, including an incident in which Harberts “leaned across the writers room table while shouting an expletive at a member of the show’s staff.” It is also said the producer began to threaten staff members when he caught wind of a potential HR complaint against him and Berg. The situation was deteriorating until staff finally went to Kurtzman ahead of a mass exodus.
Following the planned hiatus, Kurtzman is expected to take up creative leadership starting with the sixth episode of the season. Presumably, the series will continue whatever storyline Berg and Harbert initiated, although it is possible the break will allow Kurtzman to start his own story.
When the show returns in 2019, it will feature Inhumans‘s Anson Mount at U.S.S. Enterprise captain Christopher Pike and an exploration of Starfleet’s covert agency, Section 31.