From CBR's interview with Discovery's showrunners:
Does the streaming service allow you to push the envelope of what we’ve known as Star Trek content?
"The streaming service has definitely allowed us to push boundaries. We can do nudity. We can do violence that we can’t do on broadcast. We can have language."
Do you?
"For us, it has to be really carefully considered. One of the most important things that Gretchen and I have been learning since we came on the show is, just how anecdotally people come to Trek by way of their mother, their father, their older brother or their older sister. How many families watch the show, took in the show, turn it off, had a debate. It really is a property that is passed down generation to generation.
So if you’re going to do something like language, or a little nudity, or a little extra violence — which that’s one of the sad things about where we are in terms of media: violence is accepted; sexuality, maybe not so much. We’re taking great pains to make sure that nothing feels gratuitous if we’re doing it. That if language is involved, it might be language that’s celebratory.
We have a moment where three of our scientists have just pulled off the most incredible thing ever. They are talking about concepts that are so above everybody else’s head, and one of them says, “This is so fucking cool.” And she’s a cadet, and she’s catches herself, and she looks at her boss, because oh my God, she just dropped an F-bomb. And her boss, played by Anthony Rapp, turns to her and says, “You’re right, cadet — this is fucking cool.” So in a moment like that, where I feel like we’re celebrating smarts and people who are at the top of their game. It’s rare when we’ll do it, but if we do it, we want to make it feel organic."
