“It will likely affect us more in terms of what we can do graphically. But Star Trek is not necessarily a universe where I want to hear a lot of profanity, either,” he said.

Fuller also revealed a first look at the new ship, the U.S.S. Discovery, which you can see above. The Discovery’s registry number is NCC-1031. The original Enterprise was NCC-1701, and most starships seen in the later TNG era had five numbers (like the Defiant, which was NX-74205.) This immediately led to theories that the new series will be set around the time of the original series – if not before. Speaking after the Comic-Con panel, Fuller confirmed that the show will be set in the Prime timeline of Star Trek – not the alternate version used by the film reboots – but he wouldn’t specify when. “We want to tease you!” he explained.

Although the panel was nominally focused on the 50th anniversary of the franchise, there were a few questions aimed at Fuller about the nature of the new series. Without ever describing the setting or the characters, Fuller made his feelings about the core concept of the series clear. “I feel like what the new series has to do is continue to be progressie, continue to push boundaries, continue telling stories in the legacy Gene Roddenberry promised,” he said.

When William Shatner himself demanded more information from Fuller, he continued: “We’re telling stories in a new way. We’re not so much episodic. We’re going to be telling stories like a novel.”

Possibly also worth pointing out: When the full panel was all sitting onstage, Fuller began his questions by asking William Shatner point-blank: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to continue telling stories about Captain Kirk, with you in that role?” Shatner, eternally ready for anything, said that sounded like a great idea, maybe hoping for one more trip to the Great Barrier.