Jeff Russo is the official composer for CBS’s new Star Trek, but he wasn’t the only one in the running. At one point, Star Trek VI composer Cliff Eidelman was in consideration, and though it didn’t work out, he kept working.
As revealed in a Facebook Live chat earlier this week, and reported by Trek Movie, Eidelman, who composed the score for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, was at one point last year in talks with Discovery co-creator Bryan Fuller to work on the show.
“When I came in [Bryan] described what they were doing and he was so interested in me possibly scoring this series, he asked me if I would write a theme,” Eidelman said. According to Eidelman, he initially connected with Fuller on the recommendation of Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek VI‘s director, and a consulting producer on Discovery. So Eidelman wrote a theme, and then another piece, for Fuller’s consideration.
But when Fuller stepped down as showrunner, the deal fell apart. “New people came in and they went in a different direction,” Eidelman explained. “The reason I was there was because of Bryan Fuller, and when he left I kind of went with him and wasn’t kept on. I was not signed on. I was never hired or engaged formally. I was just encouraged.”
But even though his official work ended, Eidelman was enchanted with what he’d made, so he added to the two pieces he’d already written and developed a full EP called Into the Unknown, which you can listen to now on Spotify (link below). The tracks are an intriguing glimpse into an alternate universe where Fuller full vision for Star Trek came to fruition. A pity it didn’t work out.