Star Trek: Discovery Production Team Accused Of Threatening Actors
Star Trek: Discovery sounds like it may have a problem behind the scenes.
This article is more than 2 years old
Star Trek: Discovery has enjoyed high praise from critics, a strong viewership rating, and has received many awards since its debut on CBS All Access in 2017. It has been the long-awaited treat that Star Trek fans have been waiting for more than a decade. But it is possible that the reality is not as rosy as what is seen on screen as recently a member of its cast has accused the production team of the series of trying to keep the cast on a tight leash by constantly threatening and terrorizing them.
Actor Andrew Moodie, best known for his roles on Dark Matter and Orphan, recently appeared on the Dark Matter Monday show on the Orville Nation Youtube channel where he spoke at length about his time on Star Trek: Discovery and how the production team tried to belittle as well as threaten not only him but also the rest of the cast and crew as well.
Moodie played the role of Jacob, in the second season episode, “New Eden” of Star Trek: Discovery. But while the debut of the show was considered a boon by many Star Trek fans, for Moddie it was the “worst experience” in his career. He agrees that the show gave him the opportunity to work with the “brilliant” Jonathan Frakes, who directed a few episodes of the series, including “New Eden.” He also praised the director for being supportive and mentioned that the rest of the cast was also great and wonderful. But Moodie also knew that the cast and crew were “traumatized” by the production team.
As per the actor, the sets of Star Trek: Discovery was home to a constant power struggle. Things were always changing and were so unstable that the cast and crew felt threatened. And eventually, this vibe in the air was verbally underlined for Moodie when the producers of the series targeted him. He recounted that when the original showrunner of the series, Bryan Fuller, was fired, the new showrunner wanted to do things in their own way and it was made clear that they didn’t like Moodie’s acting. While Moodie didn’t take any names, Alex Kurtzman became showrunner of the series and handled Season 2 after Fuller and his co-showrunners, Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts were fired by CBS.
Moodie further shared that the direct and harsh criticism didn’t faze him as he is aware that “art is subjective.” But the cast and crew are terrified of the “new people” currently heading Star Trek: Discovery as they are “running it with an iron fist.” He proceeded to throw another subtle shade at Kurtzman by adding that someone in production, “somewhere in Los Angeles” (where Kurtzman lives) is responsible for all of it. And as they didn’t like Moodie’s acting, they tried to belittle him criticizing him as an actor and when that didn’t work, they replaced him.
Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery is currently in production in Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Canada, and is expected to debut on Paramount+ sometime in 2021.
