Star Trek: Section 31 has released a first look image, signaling that Michelle Yeoh’s upcoming Star Trek movie is indeed done filming and is awaiting release.
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The image shows Michelle Yeah as her Star Trek: Discovery character, Empress Philippa Georgiou. Georgiou came from an alternate reality (The “Terran Empire Universe”), where Earth and Starfleet became a brutal interstellar empire bred on a ‘Survival of the Fitness’ mantra. Georgiou’s encounter with the Discovery crew led to her coming back to the Star Trek prime universe, replacing her counterpart who had died. Georgiou joined Section 31 in the 23rd century, but a subsequent encounter with the Discovery crew brought her to the 32nd Century with that ship’s crew. Being in the wrong time perio and wrong timeline started to make Georgiou unravel, so she had to leave Discovery and return to the 23rd century, where this Section 31 movie will pick up her story.
“We’d never let go of her,” Michelle Yeoh said to Variety about doing the film. “I was just blown away by all the different things I could do with her. Honestly, it was like, ‘Let’s just get it done, because I believe in this.’”
Star Trek: Section 31 will be the first of Star Trek’s new line of TV movies, which hope to open new lane of Star Trek Universe projects (on Paramount+) that can be produced in quicker turnaround than TV seraons, while highlighting premium characters and/or events that will allow both new and seasoned viewers to enjoy the franchise.
“You cannot create new fans to the exclusion of old fans,” Star Trek Universe head Alex Kurtzman explained. “You must serve your primary fan base first and you must keep them happy. That is one of the most important steps to building new fans.”
“It was always my goal to deliver an entertaining experience that is true to the universe but appeals to newcomers,” Section 31 screenwriter Craig Sweeny added. “I wanted a low barrier of entry so that anybody could enjoy it.”
What Is Star Trek: Section 31 About?
Craig Sweeny went on to explain that Star Trek: Section 31 (following Starfleet’s shady black-ops unit) may be a risk for a franchise built on utopian ideals, but it also offers a unique new form of Star Trek Universe storytelling:
“Famously, there’s a spot for everybody in Roddenberry’s utopia, so I was like, ‘Well, who would be the people who don’t quite fit in?’” Sweeney said. “I didn’t want to make the John le Carré version, where you’re in the headquarters and it’s backbiting and shades of gray. I wanted to do the people who were at the edges, out in the field. These are not people who necessarily work together the way you would see on a ‘Star Trek’ bridge.”
Olatunde Osunsanmi is directing Star Trek: Section 31 from a screenplay by Craig Sweeny. Kurtzman, Sweeny, Aaron Baiers, Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, and Yeoh are executive producers. CBS Studios, in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, is producing Star Trek: Section 31.
Star Trek: Section 31 will stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and in all international markets where the service is available.
