Brannon Braga (; born August 14, 1965) is an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

, director and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. Best known for his work in the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' franchise, Braga was a key creative force behind three of the franchise's live action series. He later became an executive producer and writer on several Fox shows including '' 24'', '' Terra Nova'', and ''

The Orville ''The Orville'' is an American science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars as series protagonist Ed Mercer, an officer in the Planetary Union's line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century. ...

''. His film credits include '' Mission: Impossible 2'', ''

Star Trek Generations ''Star Trek Generations'' is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the Star Trek (film series), ''Star Trek'' film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show ''Star Trek: The Original Ser ...

'' and '' Star Trek: First Contact''. He served as an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

on the Fox primetime series, '' Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey'', a re-launch of the 1980 miniseries hosted by

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ex ...

for which Braga won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

Critics Choice Award The Critics' Choice Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writ ...

, and Producers Guild Award. In addition, Braga has been nominated for three

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s. Braga also served as writer, executive producer, and co-creator of the drama series '' Salem'',

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that was owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and was the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ra ...

's first original series.

Career

Braga started out as an intern on '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' in 1990 as part of the Television Academy Foundation's internship program, eventually becoming a co-producer for the series final season. He was part of the creative team nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1994 for Outstanding Drama Series, and won the

Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation is given each year for theatrical films, television episodes, or other dramatized works related to science fiction or fantasy released in the previous calendar year. Originally the award covered both ...

in 1995 for his work on the series finale, " All Good Things..." along with longtime collaborator Ronald D. Moore. His credits on that series include a number of popular episodes including "

Cause and Effect Causality (also referred to as causation, or cause and effect) is influence by which one event, process, state, or object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the ca ...

", " Frame of Mind" and " Parallels". He then joined '' Star Trek: Voyager'' as a producer and was tapped to serve as executive producer the following year. He served as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

for ''Voyager'' until the end of the sixth season when he moved to '' Star Trek: Enterprise''. He teamed up with Moore to write two ''Star Trek'' feature films – ''

'' and '' Star Trek: First Contact''. They would also later develop the '' Mission: Impossible 2'' screenplay. He went on to co-create ''Star Trek: Enterprise'' and led that series as executive producer until its fourth and final season. Before the cancellation of ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', Braga co-created the CBS science fiction drama series '' Threshold'', he was brought on as an executive producer and writer on the Fox series, ''24'', penning episodes in the seventh and eight seasons. He was also an executive producer and writer on the 2009 ABC science fiction series ''

FlashForward A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards a ...

''. While at the helm of '' Terra Nova'', Braga was approached to co-write a four-part comic book series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation: Hive'' for IDW, which made its debut in 2012. Braga was the producer and one of the directors of the 2014 science education series '' Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey'', a sequel to the 1980 series '' Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' that was hosted by

. The project saw Braga collaborating with the original series' writer and Sagan's widow,

Ann Druyan Ann Druyan ( ; born June 13, 1949) is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning American documentary producer and director specializing in the communication of science. She co-wrote the 1980 PBS documentary series ''Cosmos'', hosted by Carl Sagan, w ...

, executive producer

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series '' Family Guy'' (since 1999) and '' The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creat ...

and host

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a p ...

. The 13-episode series premiered March 9, 2014,Phillips, Jevon (February 27, 2014)
"Brannon Braga talks new TV treks with series 'Salem,' 'Cosmos' reboot"
Hero Complex. ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

''. and received mostly positive reaction from critics and viewers. Braga was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the show. The following month saw the premiere of the

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Art ...

drama television series '' Salem'', which Braga co-created with

Adam Simon Adam Simon (born February 6, 1962) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. His directing credits include '' Brain Dead'' (1990), '' Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger'' (1992), and '' Carnosaur'' (1993). Simon, along with p ...

, and on which he serves as one of the executive producers. in 2014, he directed the

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

music video " Cupid Carries a Gun" off '' The Pale Emperor'' album. Braga is one of the producers of ''

'', a 2017 science fiction

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

inspired by ''

''. He also directed several episodes of the series.

Personal life

Braga attended

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

and the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the ed ...

, studying Theater Arts and Filmmaking. During production of ''Star Trek: Voyager'', Braga dated star Jeri Ryan for several years after she joined the cast in the fourth season. Between February and November 2000, they were stalked by Marlon Estacio Pagtakhan, who was convicted for harassment and threats in May 2001. Braga gave a speech at the International Atheist Conference in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

in 2006, where he discussed mythologies, specifically the atheistic future for humanity that Gene Roddenberry imagined in Star Trek.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Brannon Braga
rofile on the officia
''Star Trek''
site *
Brannon Braga
n ''Star Trek'' as atheist mythology {{DEFAULTSORT:Braga, Brannon 1965 births American atheists American male screenwriters American television producers Hugo Award-winning writers Kent State University alumni Living people Showrunners Writers from Bozeman, Montana Writers from Canton, Ohio University of California, Santa Cruz alumni American people of Portuguese descent Screenwriters from Montana American male television writers