Now that the two Hollywood strikes over, Star Trek is getting back into production on two Paramount+ original projects. The third season of Strange New Worlds begins shooting this week, and the Section 31 streaming movie will begin production in late January.
Strange New Worlds season 3 shooting
The third season of Strange New Worlds began filming on Monday, December 11 in Toronto, just as we reported it would last month. The start of production was announced by members of the crew, including co-executive producer/writer Davy Perez, who shared a photo of his chair on the set with the message “Strange New Worlds Season 3 Day 1 of Shooting… Time to get back in the chair.”
View this post on Instagram
Directing producer Chris Fisher posted an image of a console on the USS Enterprise set with the message ‘Day 1, Episode 301… shenanigans in space!”
View this post on Instagram
Filming for the 10-episode season is scheduled for just over 5 months, and will wrap on May 21, 2024. Strange New Worlds is produced at CBS Stages Canada in Mississauga, Ontario just outside of Toronto. Production on season 3 was originally going to begin in May of this year, but was put on hold due to the WGA strike and then extended by the SAG-AFTRA strike. In an interview over the summer, Chris Fisher told TrekMovie he was set to direct the first episode and they’d been just one day away from flying in the actors before they shut down in May of this year.
The second season of Strange New Worlds was a hit for Paramount+. Just last week, the show picked up a series of Critics Choice Awards and Saturn Awards nominations. The full cast is set to return for season 3, which will also feature Scottish actor Martin Quinn as Scotty, who made his debut in the season 2 finale “Hegemony.” The showrunners have teased that more TOS characters are “inevitable,” although it’s unclear if we’ll see them in season 3. Even though the show will remain episodic, the Gorn are set to recur as villains. Co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman did confirm the series would continue to “genre hop” and attempt to once again do it “bigger and better” in season 3.
L-R Rong Fu as Mitchell, Rebecca Romijn as Una, Ethan Peck as Spock and Anson Mount as Capt. Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Michael Gibson/Paramount+
Section 31 filming set for January
The Star Trek: Section 31 movie starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh is also going into production. This was first teased last month, and now more details are available from industry sources. Filming is set to start on Monday, January 29th and take six weeks, wrapping up on March 13.
Originally the Section 31 movie was to be filmed in the fall, but it, too, was delayed due to the double strikes. Due to her Oscar win from earlier this year, Michelle Yeoh’s post-strike schedule could have complicated things; however, in October at NYCC, executive producer Alex Kurtzman confirmed Yoeh remains dedicated to the project. “What she did with all of the power she had accrued is to make sure that Section 31 was moving forward,” said Kurtzman.
A script (by Craig Sweeny) was completed before the WGA strike began in early May. Discovery producing director Olatunde Osunsanmi is set to helm the project for Paramount+. Section 31 will be shot a Pinewood Studios in Toronto using the stages formerly used by Star Trek: Discovery, sharing some crew and assets with Strange New Worlds, including the Pixomondo AR Wall stage in Toronto. But in his August interview with TrekMovie, Chris Fisher said he saw no issues with both Section 31 and Strange New Worlds filming concurrently, noting production on Strange New Worlds season 2 overlapped with season 4 of Discovery and it all worked out fine.
There are no confirmed details about the story or even the time period for the film. So far, Yeoh is the only confirmed member of the cast. She is returning to her Star Trek: Discovery role as Philippa Georgiou, the Terran Emperor turned operative for Section 31, Starfleet’s black ops intelligence division. After first appearing in season 1, the Mirror Universe Georgiou joined the USS Discovery crew when they jumped into the future in season 3. Yeoh’s Georgiou exited Discovery in the 32nd century using time travel via The Guardian of Forever in an arc that was designed to set up a Section 31 TV series for her. Later, Paramount+ pivoted the project into the Section 31 streaming movie, which was finally officially announced earlier this year.
Yeoh describes it as “Mission: Impossible meets Guardians of the Galaxy.” The Paramount+ announcement included this synopsis:
In Star Trek: Section 31, Emperor Philippa Georgiou, joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past.
Hopefully, more details or cast announcements will be made as the Section 31 movie gets closer to production in January.
Official announcement image
Keep up with news for the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Thrilled to see more Trek moving forward. Unfortunately, the dark cloud behind this silver lining is the news all over the business pages that Shari Redstone is actively looking for a buyer for Paramount Global. Stay tuned, I suppose…..
Depends on who buys them. I don’t expect Apple to be interested, but, if they were, I’d actually feel pretty good about it because they seem heavily invested in sci-fi.
Fact of the matter is though that Para has been looking to be purchased for the better part of the last decade.
It seems more likely to me that Apple would go after Disney or at least parts of it. Apple and Disney have strong ties through the late Steve Jobs and Pixar.
Pieces maybe, but Apple, thus far, seems content with what it has.
They could become a streaming player tomorrow if they chose to, able to buy pretty much any streamer they wanted.
Yes like most things in the world of fruit apple doesn’t focus on quantity but quality, That’s why they don’t have a lot of shows but the ones they do have are all hits. Oscars and Emmys aplenty.
I feel like Netflix would be highly motivated. They rely a lot on other company’s programming and Paramount would give them a massive back catalog and a well oiled production machine for more movies and TV shows.
Unfortunately it would be bad for Trek given their track record of canceling good shows after a season or two.
But Apple is another possibility, and one id prefer if anyone. They have shown a willingness to spend big even when shows don’t perform well, if the show is good.
I gotta admit it would be hard to imagine Apple owning Star Trek. Fitting tho since so much of their tech was already inspired by Trek lol #iPad.
I agree with this. Netflix values repeat viewing and keeping churn to a minimum. I’m sure the old numbers they have from when all the shows were on the platform were quite healthy. One thing Netflix does not value is a long-lasting series. It’s unlikely they would give a Star Trek series a 7-year run, but more like a 2 or 3 year, then out.
That’s great news!. Those old farts have been screwing up the company for years with all their shenanigans
Let’s not jinx it just yet.
That is troubling. Star Trek is an ESSENTIAL franchise to Paramount like a big fish in a small pond. If it gets bought out, Star Trek will just be a little fish in a big pond. Probably won’t see the same level of attention and might even start to languish again. Ugh …
Exactly. If NBCUniversal, WBD or Disney got a hold of it, it would be an also-ran. There’s something great about being a crown jewel for Paramount, they prioritize it better.
Skydance, with the backing of creditors, is in the running to buy out Shari Redstone. Not sure how I feel about this, it would mean breaking up the business again, but at least this time the TV and film studios would be on the same side. They’d lose some synergy opportunities but largely tied to old media.
Ugh, we ALL know what happened to Trek in the hands of NBC LOL
Everything I’ve read so far suggests that if sold, Paramount Global would be parted out. CBS/Paramount has a pretty healthy catalog. Someone will buy it…..
I love Strange New Worlds but I’m hoping their “big swings” from season 2 will level out a bit. It occurs to me that they actually never went and explored ANY “strange new worlds” during the second season… just Earth in the past and planets we’ve ever visited before or aren’t really new. I’d love to see it do those voyages to strange new worlds no one has ever heard of, that have nothing to do with any of the crew, no races we know, no Starfleet ships, no time warps, etc., just fun adventures seeking out new life and new civilizations. Just saying.
Also I hope they literally and figuratively steer clear of the Gorn this season.
They won’t right off since they have a cliffhanger to resolve.
And I suspect they won’t because it’s pretty clear the Gorn are the adversaries of this show.
Astounding that fans seem to not want great things! Fans aren’t very smart, of course, so that explains it.
I’ll take steady quality over bling and gimmicks any day.
If you think gimmicks and bling make you smarter, then good for you, my friend!
I just don’t find the Gorn a particularly interesting adversary in this show thus far. They seem like very 2 dimensional monsters to me.
It’s true. We see them BECOME three-dimensional in “Arena”, but they’d be stealing something from that episode if they introduce a better “understanding” of the Gorn pre-TOS. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
They were very stupid to re-introduce them in the first place. They should have come up with unique original villains for SNW. Think outside the box, for goodness sake. But no, Goldsman has a fetish for the Gorn, so we all have to suffer.
That’s kinda the point tho. Don’t get me wrong, I love this show, but if you can’t do anything interesting then maybe just go with a new enemy
They kinda wrote themselves into a corner. Make the Gorn more than monsters, then it overwrites “Arena” and repeats its message. Respect that episode, then they’re stuck being monsters that the characters can’t learn too much about.
So… maybe not the best choice for an ongoing villain?
Yes this exactly.
Nah, I’d much prefer MORE big swings. And this is the perfect show for that, while a stale Picard spin-off can play things safe.
It would be great if they said “we’re going to take some methodical swings this year and get a lot of singles and up the batting average”
I liked the big swings, but if they coupled those swings with your idea of more new civilizations and exploration I’d be an even happier camper!
Please enough with the “Silly Trek” stories. Stop trying to inject humor into everything when it isn’t called for. Treat the universe and characters seriously and let them be funny on their own. TOS was perfect in that regard – consummate professionals that nonetheless knew how to poke fun at each other because they’re real people, not buffoons. Enough with the “Dark Trek” stories. Stop adding drama and violence to a franchise that’s meant to be enjoyed by all ages. Enough war stuff. Classic Star Trek was almost never about war. It inspired people, particularly young people. None of the new Trek is inspirational – it’s just preachy, muddled, and more often than not, ridiculous. I don’t want more shenanigans. I want Star Trek.
Well said! Could not agree more. I want Star Trek too!
You seem to be saying “stop with all the Trek aspects I don’t like, and only do the Trek aspects that I like.” While everyone can have their own personal opinion about what aspects are good or bad (I personally think modern Trek goes overboard on unnecessary action and blood – largely DIS and PIC, and maybe SNW’s “All Those Who Wander”), I don’t think you can reasonably argue that these aspects haven’t been a part of Trek all along.
Trouble with Tribbles was a silly story, as were many others.Most TOS episodes had bits of levity injected in them, even as “unnecessary” and tonally mismatched tags on serious episodes.TOS had dark episodes – they just were a little tamer considering broadcast standards of the ’60s – for example, torture at a mental institute run by the patients/inmates in “Whom Gods Destroy.”TOS had episodes about war including “Errand of Mercy”, “A Taste of Armageddon,” and “A Private Little War”, and many others that discussed war or included extensive references to war (like “The Savage Curtain”). Since DS9 ended, the most extensive coverage of war was ENT season 3 and Discovery season 1. The Xindi “War” wasn’t much of a war but more of an adventure series to avoid a larger war (though there were war topics like torture and sacrifice for victory/survival). The DIS Klingon war was largely fought in the background of more personal stories and since then has only popped up in occasional episodes about the fallout like in SNW “Under the Cloak of War”. Overall, war occurs about as frequently in modern Trek as any other topic ever has.If you don’t think recent Trek is inspirational, then I don’t think you have seen/paid attention to SNW, LDS, or PRO. All three have extensive focus on inspirational elements. Sure, all shows including these have darker elements, that one might consider as counter arguments against an inspirational approach, but not overwhelmingly so. Whereas for DIS and PIC, I would agree they have been disproportionately weighed toward a modern “dark and gritty” perspective.
100%
SPOT-ON !!!
True this is probably just a my mileage may vary type of thing. I just don’t like there being so many references to war in modern Trek, I guess. I think the Xindi arc counts as war. Into Darkness was all about threatening war. I would be curious to do an analysis on how often “war” as a theme and “war” as a word comes up in the recent stories vs how often it did in TOS and TNG.
As far as the inspiration goes, though, I liked the OG characters better. Kirk and Picard were much more inspirational to me than Burnham or Pike. But again that’s my feeling.
“None of the new Trek is inspirational – it’s just preachy, muddled, and more often than not, ridiculous”. It’s amazing how we see the various iterations differently. As much as I like all the other Trek shows, I would apply this quote to all of them EXCEPT SNW. Not a criticism, just a comment.
Sums it up very nicely.
Can’t agree with this, though. DS9 was essentially a war story; TOS and TNG spoke to this theme, too (e.g., “A Private Little War,” “A Taste of Armageddon,” “The Hunted,” etc.).
Classic Trek had tons of episodes dealing with war???
They didn’t have to, because the ones they did nearly always carried a lot of weight.
When I refer to “Classic Trek” I’m mostly talking TOS and TNG. The stories about war were usually about avoiding it, not being in it. DS9 really embraced the whole being at war thing, followed by ENT with the Xindi season, and then Disco with the Klingons, now SNW with the Gorn. In TOS they threatened war with the Romulans, actually went to war with the Klingons for a spell, but otherwise the Federation wasn’t at war. Same with TNG – war was never something that really existed, not for long periods of time. Even when dealing with the Borg they were talking about how there’s “been no formal declaration of war.” So like, when I think of Star Trek, I don’t usually think about war – even though from DS9 on war has been a major focus. It’s too bad really, shows a lack of imagination I think on the writers’ part that they can’t come up with compelling stories that don’t involve war.
“Classic Star Trek was almost never about war.”
That’s not true at all.
If you want Star Trek, SNW will not give it to you. There are better science fiction shows out there. They are not going to give us the allegorical sci fi show some of us wanted. If you continue to watch it, it will make your blood boil. I’d recommend, if you aren’t watching it already, For All Mankind or 12 Monkeys. I just started both and they are fantastic. Treks best days are behind it. Just my opinion….
For All Mankind, 12 Monkeys, …even The Orville trekked harder than modern Trek!
It might not be everybody’s cup of tea (or bubble tea, for sure), but it certainly scratched my itch for what Trek’s been missing since Disco tried to mess it up!
Wish, wish, wish that Disney saw The Orville’s potential and renew (it was just among the top ten streamed shows again!), but talking about “Wish” — Disney’s TOTALLY been waddling into the wrong direction all for a couple of years now!
Really looking forward to seeing the Section 31 film.
As for SNW I liked S1 but S2 was a fail for me with the exception of the episodes Ad Astra per Aspera & Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. The rest of the season failed to reach the quality of S1 imo and I hope S3 goes back to S1 style instead of continuing with the S2 big swings style the the writers did.
Respectfully disagree. I actually was a bit underwhelmed with Season 1. Season 2 still felt like Star Trek to me but felt more ambitious and better written.. Also, the actors seemed more comfortable with their roles. Did it lean a bit on the comedy? Yes maybe. But after all the dark stuff we’ve been fed in modern trek, I’m OK with a more light heart season sprinkled in here and there. As long as the writing standard is maintained. Surprised that Trek move mainstays seem to be opposite to this opinion. Me, My partner and my friends who watch trek all thought S2 was better. IMDB average score for all season one was 7.9. Season 2 was 8.1. Folks over at the 7th Rule podcast also liked S2 better. So I’m definitely not alone in my opinion.
I just wish there was any real info about the tone/approach of the S31 movie. I really dislike the modern take (DIS mainly) on S31, and my interest in the movie will remain dependent upon them largely reversing the direction they have taken with its portrayal. I have little actual hope that they have made this shift, but the direction/management of recent Trek shows (LDS, SNW, PRO) makes me slightly hopeful that modern Trek is outgrowing its approach to storytelling from DIS s1-3 and PIC s1-2.
Funny, while I liked the idea of “Ad Astra per Aspera” (and the payoff that story got in “Those Old Scientists”), I thought that episode’s execution was one of the weakest of the season – I felt only “Lost in Translation” had a weaker story/execution. Overall, I thought season 2 was better than 1 with more consistent episode quality. I would have said that S1 had more “great” episodes than S2, but looking back over the list I think they are very similar: “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow”, “Those Old Scientists”, “Under the Cloak of War”, and “Subspace Rhapsody” were all great and most of the others were very good. That said, I would like to see them take “big swings” at innovative sci-fi or exploration episodes, to complement the “lets push different episode genres” they have done so far.
I’d add “Under the Cloak of War” to this list, but otherwise I agree.
Well said – I can’t wait for the section 31 movie
I don’t think S2 was a total fail for me but I don’t think it was as good as S1. I am hoping one of the few good things to come out of the delays from the strikes is that maybe they would have some time to course correct some of the possible mistakes written into S3. If there were any of course.
Agreed completely about Season 1 vs Season 2.
I’m actually disappointed that they’re making the Section 31 movie. I hope to say “I was wrong” after seeing it but I’m really not looking forward to it.
the section 31 “movie” reminds me of the Battlestar Galactica “movie” called ‘Razor’ about the the backstory of the Pegasus. that tv movie was great, we’ll see about S31
YAY! Welcome back, everyone!
Trek producers are missing the boat by trying to be “TV on the web.” The core of Trek revenue stream are viewers who treat every live action Trek episode as a special event — e.g., “must see TV.” To best leverage that, and maintain levels of annual subscription — there should be one 90-minute episode per month. Every other week would alternate series. The proven model for this was the weekly “wheel” format of the 1970’s NBC/ABC Mystery Movie. Just consider the lifespan & revenue of Columbo.
By pandering to contempory media preferences, and violating canon, Trek producers self-sabotage their long term revenue stream. That itself seems to be the popular thing in USA right now, and would be a good morality tale for an episode — the psychology behind self-sabotaging behavior. Producers are making a HUGE mistake by targeting the Marvel/DC audience, which is dying on the vine — by assuming that arch villians and violence = profit. In so doing, the producers are willfully igoring why Trek is popular. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana (1905) Reason in Common Sense, p. 284.
People can rewatch TOS episodes precisely because there are deeper messages to be gleaned. Gimmickery and violence was unnecessary, except that NBC demanded it.
Canon: Kirk’s crew did not know who the Gorn were. TOS S01E19: Arena.
Bird of prey. TOS S01E08: Balance of Terror.
So now, SNW is in yet a fourth alternate Trek universe, with Discovery effecting the third. SHAME ON PARAMOUNT and its lazy inept writers who just can’t do a better job (and don’t even know the difference between flaunt and flout — DIS “…But to Connect” S04E07). I think they should have remained on strike permanently.
Better storylines for Discovery in the 32nd century would be interacting with the Organians, the Metrons, the Gary Seven species, etc. — with humans still inferior primates who are evolving with guidance (the empathy of Booker & Saru was a start). But the depth of those issues remain unexplored and clearly inconceivable to the producers and the comic book writers they have hired.
While hard-core fans might like that, Paramount needs more than hard-core fans watching Star Trek or why spend the money? And does the casual fan really care about “violating canon”? I’ve been a fan since TOS was on NBC and while I certainly think the broad parameters of the show should be respected, most of the “canon violations” I hear people talk about are pretty “inside baseball”, and I don’t think that sort of thing should get in the way of telling a good story. Kind of like the Moffett era of Doctor Who. Unless you were steeped in the show’s mythology, you just wouldn’t get it.
Can you imagine if Disney bought the entire Star Trek franchise. lol. Rock ‘n roll man. If they owned Marvel, Trek, Star Wars… and then bought DC…. a clean sweep. Then I wouldn’t have to pay for 8000+ subscription services.
At what point would the Feds decide Disney owns too much and acquiring any more studios would present too much anti-competition? That would have to be coming soon. Disney wouldn’t be able to buy the whole shebang, because it already owns ABC and the Feds will never let them own CBS as well. Apple buying Paramount seems to make the most sense, as it brings a large library of programming and a fairly strong studio to them (AppleTV is kinda “yawn”.) Amazon would also be a contender, they own MGM but MGM is only a shadow of its former self. It would be interesting to see a Universal/Paramount merger (Peacock and Paramount+ becoming one), but that might also run into anti-competition resistance.
Disney is in the opposite position right now. They are losing money left and right and looking to sell divisions like ESPN. Not add to their portfolio.
Disney getting their desultory, directionless, ultra-bland, paint-by-numbers mitts on Star Trek is my literal nightmare. Excepting PCD S3, love or hate nu-Trek, at least it’s largely taken some genuine risks — providing fans with something fresh and even a little “edgy”.
Besides, monopolies are never a good thing.
Star Trek under Kathleen Kennedy? Dear K’haless no!
Monopoly is more than a board game, bucko.
Nah, Disney would then start churning out Trek content like crazy. Trek is not big outside of it’s fandom, and then to dilute the market with content would be a death knell. I love Star Wars, but once Disney had acquired the property they immediately went too much, too soon, to a point where I am now indifferent to that franchise altogether. I still love my OG trilogy and prequels, but that’s about it.
Same with Marvel.
Yay! So excited for more of Strange New Worlds! Best of luck to everyone involved. Thanks for working so very hard to make this wonderful show for us!
Sounds like a top secret mission to the Mirror Universe as part of Section 31 seems in the cards if I had to predict what facing “the sins of her past” means. I do love Yeoh and will enjoy the movie I am sure, but not the most thrilling project in my mind at least.
Very excited for Season 3 of SNW. That simply cannot come fast enough! Filming wrapping in May puts it a long way off though. There’s always room for improvement but Season 2 struck all the right chords! Slow start but really delivered big time in the final half of the season.
Honestly more than anything else what I want from a S31 movie is for it to somehow return the organization to the shadows where it belongs.
Yes!
Hi :)
That would be an excellent way for the film to conclude.
I know right? *fingers crossed*
Since it’s a film event I’d love to see them really “go big.” Keep Georgiou in the prime timeline (I’m kind of over the Mirror Universe), but move her around. She could play in the DSC/SNW era and reunite with Shazad Latif’s Ash Tyler. They could even recruit George Takei and Walter Koenig (fanboy dream, I know, I know, don’t everyone attack me for stating it) and take her even farther back. But it would be nice to finally see the DSC-era Section 31 finally go back underground.
All of that sounds great but in my fanboy fantasy Sloan would come back and be her mentor!
I wonder if they manage to fix the rank stripes by season 3.
S31 movie starring Michelle Yeoh, Peter Weller and Benedict Cumberbatch
Sign me up, so long as he’s not playing Khan
White Khan x2? No thanks.
The kind of nice thing is I pretty much have no expectations for either production, the way I feel about new Trek as a whole now. So anything good that comes out of either SNW s3 or Sec. 31 will be a pleasant surprise. Either way, both are quite a ways off.
I’m happy to see more Star Trek moving forward after the strike.
In 1994, production occurred for the last season of TNG, the 2nd season of DS9, the Generations movie, and the 1st season of Voyager. Those all over lapped to certain degrees, so what is the big deal with overlapping Star Trek productions?
I believe TNG, DS9, and VOY had separate sound stages on the Paramount lot.
IIRC All Good Things and Generations was a nightmare because the latter went into production almost immediately after the former on the same set with of course the same writers and cast and crew and everything.
They actually filmed the Enterprise-B scenes (on the Movie Bridge/Battle Bridge set) while All Good Things was still filming on the TNG sets.
Wow that’s interesting
AGT and GEN were a nightmare because Rick Berman let the same two people – Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore write both scripts simultaneously. “All Good Things” turned out fantastic … one of the best series finales ever … while Generations suffered. I don’t think Generations is a bad movie (it certainly surpasses Nemesis), but there are a lot of holes in the script that I don’t think would have occurred if Braga/Moore weren’t burning the proverbial candle at both ends.
Yep, I totally remember that now! But there were other issues like the bridge of the D having to be redone to fit a 16:9 format instead of the normal tv 4:3 tv format of the time and stuff like that. Nemesis may be the worst movie ever but Generations gave us the worst death of the very first real captain we ever had and for that I can never forgive that movie.
Voyager took over the TNG stages, I think.
That would make sense. TNG had an established “Planet Hell” stage/set that could be continuously redressed, which would have worked out well for VOY.
LOL Did you see how Generations turned out?
Yeah, but it was still done. Other Trek productions were great in 1994. For example: All Good Things.
All Good Things is kinda the point tho, AGT and GEN were made simultaneously and it is said that Generations suffered in writing and production because Paramount rushed it and Berman and CO had to do both at the same time. And Kirk literally died as a result.
Since time travel is an element in the Section 31 movie, it can literally take place at any time during the ENT, TOS/TAS, and TNG/DS9/VOY eras.
My preference would be for it to take place during the Enterprise era.
Narratively it makes the most sense because it sends Georgiou as far back in time to when the Mirror and Prime Universes were closets together while still allowing to take place during a recognized era of Star Trek.
How awesome would be if it took place 20-odd years after Mirror Hoshi established herself as the first Empress of the Terran Empire?
Hoshi versus Georgiou would be fantastic.