STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Was Originally Pitched an AMERICAN HORROR STORY-Style Anthology Series

Star Trek: Discovery could have been a completely different kind of series had CBS moved forward with Bryan Fuller's original pitch. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the creator of the series revealed that his original plan was to have a Star Trek series made in the same style at the American Horror Story anthology series.  He explained:

"The original pitch was to do for science-fiction what American Horror Story had done for horror. It would platform a universe of Star Trek shows."

I actually think that's a fascinating idea! Every season would be a completely different story set in the Star Trek universe featuring different characters, crews, ships, villains, and more. I'm a big fan of anthology series, so I'd be all for something like this. CBS, wasn't willing to the take the risk on it, though. They wanted to roll forward with something more traditional, which makes sense, but there's still a lot of fun that could be had with an anthology series.

Fuller ended up being let go from the project while it was in development due to his creative differences with CBS. He was also incredibly busy working on American Gods for Starz and a reboot of Amazing Stories. After he left, many of his ideas were tossed out of the show. A couple of those things included "the more heavily allegorical and complex storyline to his choice of uniforms (a subdued spin on The Original Series trio of primary colors)."

It sucks Fuller ended up leaving the show, but he's now focused on his other projects. I just thought it was a cool concept to make Star Trek an anthology series. I doubt we'll ever see that happen, but maybe one day we'll see a similar sci-fi-inspired anthology series get made.

What do you all think of the anthology concept?