Star Trek Head Offers Promising Section 31 Spinoff Update
Michelle Yeoh is now best known as the Academy Award-winning star of Everything Everywhere All at Once, which also won Best Picture at this year's ceremony. However, Star Trek fans may know her better as Her Most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Qo'noS, Regina Andor, Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius, the former Emperor of the Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe turned Section 31 agent in the Prime Timeline. Yeoh played the role on Star Trek: Discovery, but left the show in its third season, presumably to set up the Yeoh-led Section 31-focused Star Trek: Discovery spinoff that Paramount first announced in 2019.
However, the Section 31 series has yet to materialize as the COVID-19 pandemic scrapped plans to film its pilot in 2020. Since then, Paramount has put the show on the back burner as Yeoh has had a number of other projects on her plate, and Star Trek's calendar has been full with Star Trek: Discovery, Discovery's other spinoff Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Star Trek: Prodigy. With Star Trek: Picard in its final season and Star Trek: Discovery wrapping its run in 2024, space is opening up for another live-action series. Star Trek head producer Alex Kurtzman spoke to SFX about the franchise. Kurtzman teased, "I can tell you that we're still very excited about Section 31. And that's all I will say."
Star Trek's Section 31 spinoff is still in the works
Yeoh previously described the Section 31 series as "Section 31 is that [Star Trek] universe but different. It's like Mission: Impossible meets Guardians of the Galaxy in space." Section 31 had a writers' room in place before Paramount paused production. Kurtzman remained optimistic that the scripts they have already will eventually make it to production.
"We actually have a couple of [Section 31] scripts. COVID frankly, just changed the game for everybody and every show," Kurtzman explained during a Producers Guild of America interview. "We were on a very specific schedule that then got thrown completely into whack because of COVID. Even Discovery season four started many months later than originally planned, Picard too. Everything got pushed… So we're actually on a great track with Section 31 and I'm very optimistic about it."
Star Trek: Discovery is streaming now on Paramount+. Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, the show's final season, debuts in 2024.