After years in development (and originally planned as a TV series), production on Star Trek: Section 31 has officially begun. We now also know who will be joining Michelle Yeoh for this TV movie.
Section 31 begins
Paramount+ today announced that production has begun in Toronto on Star Trek: Section 31, an original streaming movie event starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh. She is reprising her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, first introduced in season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery, who jumped from the Mirror Universe to become an agent of Starfleet’s secret intelligence group Section 31. According to the announcement released today, in the Section 31 movie, Georgio is “tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets,” but she “also must face the sins of her past.”
Paramount+ also announced seven actors for the cast of Section 31. These include Omari Hardwick (Power), Kacey Rohl (Hannibal), Emmy winner Sam Richardson (Ted Lasso), Sven Ruygrok (One Piece), Robert Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), Humberly Gonzalez (Ginny & Georgia) and James Hiroyuki Liao (Barry).
Michelle Yeoh on the set of Star Trek: Section 31 (Photo Credit: Jan Thijs)
Star Trek: Section 31 was written by Craig Sweeny and is being directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. It is executive produced by Alex Kurtzman, Craig Sweeny, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Eugene Roddenberry, Trevor Roth and Michelle Yeoh and is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.
“And we’re off to the races! Thrilled to report principal photography has started on Star Trek: Section 31,” said executive producer Alex Kurtzman in a statement. “We welcome our incredible cast of new characters as they join our beloved Michelle Yeoh on her next wild adventure across the ‘Trek’ universe.”
L to R: Omari Hardwick (credit: Warwick Saint), Kacey Rohl (credit: Kristine Cofsky), Sam Richardson (credit: Abita Jefferson), Sven Ruygrok (credit: Justin Munitz), Robert Kazinsky (credit: Eric Blackmon), Humberly Gonzalez (credit: Kristina Ruddick), James Hiroyuki Liao (credit: Joshua Monesson)
The official announcement from Paramount+ does not offer any details on what roles the newly announced actors will play, but it does offer more background on their experience:
Hardwick is best known for his lead role of James ‘Ghost’ St. Patrick in the hit series Power, which earned him critical acclaim and back-to-back Image Awards (NAACP) for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series. Following his success in Power, Hardwick starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in the thriller The Mother. Hardwick also starred in the limited series Pieces of Her and Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. Next, Hardwick will star in Xeno, from Kevin Hart’s Heartbeat production company. In addition to acting, Hardwick founded the film and production company Bravelife in 2010. A talented actor, Hardwick also is a poet and musical artist; his debut album “Concrete & Whiskey” is on the horizon.
Rohl’s first on-screen appearance was in 2010 in the reboot of the series V. She’s best known for her role of Abigail Hobbs in Hannibal and as Sterling Fitch in The Killing. She played Prudence in the 2011 Warner Bros feature Red Riding Hood, opposite Amanda Seyfried, and portrayed Kerry Campbell in Wayward Pines, Alena in Arrow and Marina in The Magicians. After starring in the series Fortunate Son, she led the cast of the Toronto Film Festival’s buzzy White Lie, which garnered her a spot among TIFF’s Rising Stars platform in 2019.
Richardson is best known for his standout role as Richard Splett on Veep. He most recently earned two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, winning his first Emmy for his role in Ted Lasso. His diverse career includes starring in The Afterparty, Hocus Pocus 2 and Velma and voicing Uncle Brill in DreamWorks’ Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken. His notable filmography includes Good Boys, Game Over Man, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Neighbors 2, Senior Year, The Tomorrow War, Werewolves Within, Superintelligence, Detroiters, and Office Christmas Party. On television, he’s been seen in The Office, New Girl, Arrested Development and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. Richardson is an alumnus of Second City Chicago MainStage.
Ruygrok is a dynamic South African actor who is well-known for his role as Rambo in the Spud film franchise alongside John Cleese, Troye Sivan and Caspar Lee. His other films include City of Violence, The Empty Man, Bring It On and Inside Man: Most Wanted. His most recent works include lead roles in The Good Life and Breathing In (in post-production), and he can be seen as Cabaji in the hit TV series One Piece.
Kazinsky can be seen in the Russo Brothers-directed film The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, and in the drama Second Chance. He starred opposite Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel; opposite Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara in Hot Pursuit, directed by Anne Fletcher; and opposite Alexander Skarsgård and Paul Rudd in Mute for director Duncan Jones and Liberty Films. Kazinsky also appeared in the feature Warcraft for Jones. Previously, Kazinsky starred in Guillermo del Toro’s film Pacific Rim, opposite Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba, and was the mysterious love interest to Anna Paquin in True Blood.
Gonzalez next will play a lead in the feature Horrorscope. She stars in the new Star Wars video game Star Wars: Outlaws, stars in the hit series Ginny & Georgia and was recently seen in Jupiter’s Legacy. She starred in Nobody, opposite Bob Odenkirk and Connie Nielson; Slumberland, opposite Jason Momoa; and the indie A Hundred Lies. She played the lead role in the mini-series Utopia Falls and recurred on the series Nurses. Last year, Humberly played the fan-favorite role of Vanessa on the series In the Dark. Her previous credits include Orphan Black, Saving Hope, Workin’ Moms and The Detail. Humberly is a graduate of the prestigious CFC Conservatory program in Toronto and the National Theatre School in Montreal.
Liao, a Juilliard-trained character actor, is known for his roles as Edmond Ku in the award-winning series The Dropout and Albert Nguyen in the Emmy-winning series Barry. He is set to appear in the upcoming limited series Presumed Innocent and the first season of Orphan Black: Echoes and continues his recurring role of Lt. Fleming in the new season of Blue Bloods. Liao’s recent credits include Cowboy Bebop, opposite John Cho, and Paramount Pictures’ Snake Eyes with Henry Golding. Other notable roles include Michael Pak in the film Lost Girls and voicing Toshiaki in Tim Burton’s animated film Frankenweenie. Liao has a diverse range; he’s tackled everything from battling aliens in Battle Los Angeles to displaying his comedic skills in Management with Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson and Steve Zahn. His television presence includes recurring roles in Paramount+’s SEAL TEAM, Prison Break, CSI and 24, along with guest appearances on shows like Manifest, Iron Fist and Law & Order.
Paramount has not announced when the Section 31 movie is expected to arrive on the streaming service. According to our previous reporting, production was actually set to begin yesterday and will run for around six weeks through to March 13th.
Keep up with news for the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
So, no Tyler… As expected, really.
I’m glad, personally. I never cared much for the character, and I didn’t think the actor was as good as the other Discovery actors.
I wouldn’t be asking about him either if his character wasn’t literally made the head of Section 31 in the timeframe this character travelled too.
How do we know what timeframe she traveled to? She stepped into the Guardian of Forever and we haven’t seen or heard from her since.
She went back to a time when the prime and mirror universes were more closely aligned, which was previously said to deviate after the 23rd Century. So, it would stand to reason she went back to the 23rd Century.
I thought Shazad Latif was great but the character…not so much! Then again split opinions were the norm for the character and his particular storyline. However, storyline wise it did end with him becoming the new head of Section 31. Let’s hope they at least include a few lines either acknowledging it or explaining it away.
Yeoh, just might be given an Executive Producer credit, as well.
She probably had script and cast approval (or input.)
I don’t recall if Georgiou and Tyler had many scenes together.
There may have been no chemistry between them or Yeoh didn’t care for Latif…
She had. At least per Variety…
Phew.
The actor may not be available, as well.
I’m not surprised…
No Paul Guilfoyle either. Yet.
I heard Shazad Latif was playing Captain Nemo, so maybe he wasn’t available.
Too bad that project couldn’t find a Caucasian, British actor to play James Harrington (revealed to be Nemo halfway through the series after getting captured on purpose in order to save his Nautilus crew that he hid in a bunch of torpedoes), then Shazad would have been available for S31.
But seriously, Ash Tyler had pretty much run through a decent character arc with Voq, Burnham, Culber and L’Rell. What would he have done in this movie?
Is it possible that one of these actors is Latif using an alias???
If his character shows up as a surprise, I doubt they would list him in the cast.
Reminder: in “Context is for Kings” (also written by Craig Sweeny, who worked with DS9 writers Ira Steven Behr and Rene Ecchevaria on The 4400–it’s possible they all chatted about Section 31 at some point), the convicts traveling with Burnham didn’t know what the black badges meant, which means that at the very least, civilians don’t know about Section 31. It’s likely that even in DSC season two, only certain Starfleet officers actually knew about Section 31. There were still MANY Discovery crewmembers who NEVER found out that the Georgiou they knew was from the Mirror Universe, so I figure a lot of the rest of Starfleet was in the dark about Section 31.
Between this and SNW, Discovery is starting to feel like a proving ground for guest characters to come in, earn the adoration of the masses, and get their own spinoffs. It’s like Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. I’m no fan of Discovery, but credit where credit is due.
Now can we get a Lorca appearence on SNW?
Prime Lorca would be great but I feel like bringing in more TOS characters is the priority for them.
The Lorca as presented in Discovery pre-reveal was really interesting. I wish he had been Prime Lorca.. some baggage to deal with that presented some questions that were much more fascinating before you realize he’s just a moustache twirling baddie from the Mirror Universe. Sadly, I doubt prime Lorca would be as interesting.
That’s the problem with the Mirror Universe right there, at least so far: generic, one-dimensional, over-acted bad guys with no human personality traits or ethical/emotional struggles. Everyone is just EVIL. Fun for the actors, maybe, but dull as heck to watch.
+1 to that
Feels like we’ve moved on past Lorca by this point.
Awesome I’m really looking forward to this. I still wish we were getting a TV show but I’ll be happy enough with a TV movie and hopefully this won’t be the only S31 TV movie made.
Nothing stopping them from commissioning a series if the movie is a big hit.
True.
Especially if the rest of the cast distinguishes themselves, they can return with Yeoh an infrequent guest star or written out entirely, so it’s not dependent on her availability.
Michelle still does TV shows. She is excellent in The Brothers Sun.
It wouldn’t be the first time that a TV movie became a backdoor pilot for a TV show. Keep the faith 🖖
Sounds like a solid cast. Really looking forward to this….
I would have rather had 3 more episodes of season 3 of SNW over the S31 movie. The first appearance of S31 in DS9 was interesting but the stories quickly lost steam. Maybe if I liked Discovery more I’d be excited. Not including Tyler seems like a mistake.
That’s not how any of this works, but thanks for playing.
Three episodes is about $21 million so, yup, that’s how it works. You can either expand a season or put the money elsewhere. There’s only so much money to go around (which is why Discovery started seeing shorter seasons).
Enterprise established something akin to Section 31 was around before the Federation was even founded
I agree that Section 31 was overdone a bit. It’s always ‘we don’t want it to tarnish the pristine Federation but we bent our ethics for the greater good – or are we?’ I guess a new spin could be a time post DS9 in which the section is finally disbanded at the end of the movie.
What a moronic point. That’s not even an option. It doesn’t work that way, son
I think his point is that if you drop the Section 31 movie you can get another three episodes of SNW. Paramount wouldn’t be opposed to an extended SNW. Had Michelle Yeoh not collected every major award last year or had someone else been cast in the part, this thing wouldn’t be happening.
OK, but that sort of calculus does not come up in streaming series — you don’t see any streaming series doing more than 10 eps anymore. So his point in nonsensical — there is no such either/or calculus that he is imagining there.
And we are obviously not getting a Legacy series, but there MIGHT be a chance of a TV movie or two. So if I was a DSC hater, I’d still make sure to watch the S31 movie — because anyone who ever wants to see a Legacy TV movie had better support the S31 movie, because there is no way we are going to get more Trek TV movies if the S31 movie is not watched and supported by fans
The final season of BETTER CALL SAUL, aired last year, had 13 episodes.
BCS was a cable show, not a streaming one. It aired on AMC.
OK, fair enough. I binge-watched it last year on Netflix, in the UK, so I’m mis-remembering.
Yeah no worries. I thought The Last of Us was just a streaming show on MAX for nearly the entire first season lol.
Not a streaming series, and AMC typically divides their seasons into two half-year seasons within each year (approximately). Apples and oranges.
Good thing you’re not in charge.
I like the guy from Ted Lasso, not familiar with any of the others. Good luck to them, I hope it’s a good story. Glad this is a film instead of a series.
But, when in the timeline does it take place?
We really have no idea. It looked in her last appearance like the Guardian of Forever had made her some kind of agent for it and sent her to place (and time) unknown.
As per Discovery, the further back in time she goes, the closer the Prime and Mirror Universes are to each other.
I’d like to believe she’d be sent to the Enterprise era, but I don’t imagine they’d spent the money and resources necessary to recreate it for just one movie.
Odds are they’ll just recycle the sets from Discovery for this, though.
She appears to be in a Discovery esque corridor.
Yeah.
No idea, but considering that you can’t throw a rock in the Trek universe without hitting some sort of time travel device, does it really matter?
Heh
Wouldn’t it be nice if they didn’t even tell us? And it was just a Star Trek story and we had to figure it out. I’m sick of having to know when exactly stuff is in the timeline.
What if it takes place all over the prime timeline? How cool would that be? We know she has go back why have her mission be one that spans several points of time? If this is a partial redemption story for the character, that would be big stakes.
That’s just All Good Things, though. Problem with that here is that I’m certain hers was a one-way trip to the past. It’s not like the Guardian will keep her bouncing through time.
Why not? It worked on quantum leap.
She’s not on a mission to travel through time, though. She was sent back in time for the explicit purpose of being in an era when the two universes were closer together so he wouldn’t die.
But we don’t know that. Maybe she will meet Carl again wherever time she lands.
I really want the GOF to be in the movie. 🙂
But that’s not this series, though. It’s not about her going on missions on behalf of the Guardian, it’s about Section 31. It’s Mission: Impossible, not Quantum Leap.
But we don’t really know what it’s about. And people are suggesting she may go back to the MU. Carl could be the one who takes her there.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m only saying we don’t know anything about the story or whose in it. I don’t expect to see Carl but still crossing my fingers. 🤞
You know what, I’m really into this idea!
Sam Richardson is a great actor, and Humberly Gonzalez is a goddess. I am not familiar with the others, but those two actors’ casting is a good thing.
I love Omari Hardwick (and of course Michelle Yeoh). I’m excited he’s in the cast. He’s often typecast as the villain but I’d love to see him as a Star Fleet officer. The rest of the cast looks cool too. I’ve warmed up to the idea of a Section 31 show especially in the TV movie format. I’m honestly getting kind of excited.
I really wish I was more excited about this movie as I really enjoyed season one and two of Discovery!
guess after sitting through seasons 3 and 4 I have completely lost faith in anything Discovery related.
For me it was when they starting exploring Section 31 outside of DS9. The original creators always seemed more interested in trying to make it morally ambiguous. While almost everyone else has typically framed them solely as the bad guys. Either way I find the lower expectations the better it tends to be when it comes to newer Star Trek. You tend to find more things to appreciate.
They tried to create genocide but wiping out the all the Founders and using Odo to do it. I’m not really sure they were being all that ambiguous.
Agree with the lower expectations part though. It’s probably why I ended up liking shows like Lower Decks and Prodigy, especially Lower Decks. 😂
And I really learned my lesson after Picard sadly.
I see your point. I just think that considering they existed since the founding of the Federation there has bound to be good moments in there too. Not just the genocidal ones that were clearly wrong. It’s just easier storyline wise for writers to have clear cut heroes and villains. One hopes they expand on that with this movie.
Fair enough!
And really liked them on Enterprise as well. But they been very shaky in NuTrek for me, a big reason I’m not that thrilled about this movie especially what they did with them in Discovery. But I’m always ready to be surprised.
But the genocide did end the war.
No it didn’t. They were cured.
And who made the cure? S31 that’s who. All part of the plan.
That makes no sense lol.
Oh it does. S31 leaks information in to Dr. Bashir’s, Sloan allows himself to be captured and gives Bashir the cure. While at the same time faking his death. This is probably the reason Bashir was recruited in to S31 in the first place.
Have you been drinking man?
Sam Richardson is great in The Afterparty, looking forward to having him in Star Trek!
Nice to see this getting made.
Not super excited about The Adolf Chronicles but I’ll stay open minded. A bit disappointed there is no Tyler or Bashir in the mix but not too surprised either.
And I guess they could be keeping some actors secret for a surprise but I won’t overthink it.
Anyway hope it turns out well since I do love Section 31.
I’m disappointed that there’s no Jack Quaid either. Yes we don’t know what time period she went to but time travel is a very common trope in Trek. Make it a whole movie about a bunch of S31 agents trying to get back to their right time period. Real potential for comedy there.
And yes he could be a surprise guest star, same with Siddig. I guess we’ll see.
Probably an unpopular opinion buuuuttttt I’m hoping one of these is a younger Luther Sloan. I liked him.
Interesting idea about Sloan.
Kinda wondering if this is maybe Star Trek’s version of Suicide Squad or Mission Impossible.
I think Yeoh herself describe it more as a Mission Impossible type story. That’s when it was still suppose to be a show though so who knows? But I think they are basically just using whatever the first episode of what the show was and expanded it into a movie length story.
I liked Sloan a lot as well. I’m pretty sure that’s not an unpopular opinion at all… And welcome back.
Thanks.
Gritizens you’re back!!! 😀
I missed you man. Totally. You’re one of my favorite posters here!
I completely forgot about Sloan. How is that possible??? But I seen others suggest that possibility in the past that Georgiou will go back to the 24th century and help influence the Section 31 we know and recruit him.
Now that would be awesome!! 😎
I been on other boards discussing this and a lot of people are totally convinced we’re going to get some legacy characters. When Picard started filming they announced all the newbies as the main cast but saved all the big characters like Data, Seven and the Trois for the trailers so the fans could get more hyped. So fingers crossed! 🤞
Been having a hell of a rough manic episode. Got back into Homestuck (really showing our age here) and then started hyperfocusing on Transformers again. Also our Pixel 6 didn’t like this site at all for a while. Then a long term headmate remembered a traumatic event that happened when we was like 3 so it took a while to recover from that. On the fun side though that same one also remembered watching reruns of G1 and commercials for the G2 toys when we were kids. (We’re pretty sure said long term headmate is actually a transformer too which is also fun! Brings a whole new meaning to being a robot in disguise. [/joke])
Anyway, back to the subject at hand, I’d actually like to see that. I’d like to see her come in somewhere between DSC S2 and DS9 and go on missions for S31. So we can see stuff like the recruitment of Luther Sloan. Also dig into S31’s interactions with stuff like the Tal Shiar and the other spy groups this side of the wormhole. (Send her to Cardassia at some point lmao. Seeing Cardassia again would be nice.) I guess we’ll just have to see who appears in the trailers.
Sounds like you been through some things as usual but happy you been keeping up with your favorites. I remember you telling me how much you love Transformers. I was going to give it a shot but still haven’t yet.
As far as Georgiou I really don’t want her to go back to the 23rd century but maybe a bit before the TNG era so we can get a younger Sloan but also see how Section 31 dealt with some of the bigger foes in the time like the Carsassians and Tal Shiar as you mentioned. Or post DS9 and we can see more stuff with the Dominian. One of the things I was disappointed with Picard was we got the Founders again but no Jem Hadar or Vorta.
That would be interesting too. If they go back to the 23rd century it will probably just be more boring Klingon stuff we seen a hundred times.
But it’s all wide open right now. Maybe they will bring back Carl too and be part of the mission? I really love that guy! 😎
Earthspark is still our favorite of all the series so far!
Yeah, that’s the era I’m hoping for. Pre DS9 where S31 would have been keeping an eye on the Romulans and the Cardassians and any other group that they felt was a possible threat to the Federation. (Have a spy on Ferenginar for the hell of it.) Have people run into the Obsidian Order and get back with tall tales of a certain member of it that later becomes a tailor.
I really like the young Sloan idea as well. That would be fun if they brought in a new actor and even a possibility we could see more of him if we are getting the DS9 version of Section 31. We’ll see but the possibilities are pretty endless right now.
And yeah bring back the GOF. That was a great idea and hope we see more of him. Maybe he’s hanging out with Q. ;D
Good to have you back, my friend. Knowing what you go through I have been worried for you since I have not seen you here in weeks.
Thanks bro.
Yeah great to see you back as well dude! I was just thinking about you the other week and wondered where you disappeared to?
I would also like to see them go ‘big’ here and not just a rudimentary mission. Have it be multiple timelines, running into other agents etc. And yeah I would love to see Bashir as well. I have zero hope it’s going to happy but I had zero hope I would ever see Data again and here we are. ;)
So you never know. Hopefully it will just be a decent story…something I’ve given up with Discovery sadly.
Shazad Latif has been continuously working, so perhaps he wasn’t available to commit to the whole project? We don’t know what era the GoF will send Georgiou to – hopefully multiple eras, but maybe Latif will make a cameo as Ash Tyler. I’d also really like to see Alexander Siddig somehow tied in, especially if she jumps eras, but at least we know we’ve got a solid cast so far.
I would love the multiple era idea. We can go back to Archer’s day after or during the Romulan war and then jump to the 23rd and 24th centuries. I think a lot of fans really want to see Bashir in Section 31. It just be nice to see other S31 characters too. Sloan and Tyler seem like the more obvious choices.
Yet it was okay to have a TV show that was made about an actual serial killer?
What show is that?
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. A 10 episode series that was on Netflix. So I think a TV movie about a power hungry fictional character from a different universe that ate aliens is rather tame.
I’m not against shows with serial killers in general, just when it comes to Star Trek because that’s the total opposite of what Star Trek is about.
Hannibal is one of my favorite shows. It was a big reason why I was excited about Bryan Fuller coming back to Star Trek because we would get a quality show.
I still would be against if Starfleet gave Hannibal his own ship though. 🙄
As far as Georgiou, I think the character just mostly sucks more than anything. And she’s not a serial killer, she’s a genocidal maniac responsible for billions of deaths and seem to relish in it. I don’t celebrate crazy people like this in Star Trek but this is just my personal view only. It is still just a fictional character so people can certainly love her. I just don’t and doubt I ever will.
… from the mirror universe. not in the Star Trek prime universe. Just like mirror Kirk killed mirror Pike to assume command. Just like mirror Hoshi killed mirror Archer to assume command and was planning on killing the emperor and their followers to become empress. It is not like they are making a show about a beloved character in the prime universe going on a genocidal killing spree. And it is not like they are joining “starfleet”… they are in Section 31. Section 31 in every show is not exactly filled with the best people. Know what I mean?
And let’s not forget like 6 to 7 seasons of Dexter — the serial killer that some fans even rooted for.
And Michael Hall even posts here. ;-)
Have you ever watched the show? Of course we rooted for Dexter … consider the alternative! Executioner-without-portfolio is a helluva title, but one he earned, not by being a -chotic of your coice, but by ridding society of so many others of his ilk and doing so while minimizing court and prison costs. I honestly don’t see how anybody could not root for him, any more than you could sincerely oppose Dirty Harry in his work to achieve justice.
And this is coming from a liberal-maybe-going-radical, but one pragmatic enough to realize the bad guys don’t go away and stay away and you just keep getting more of them unless you deter them in a permanent and irrevocable fashion. That doesn’t mean a slap on the wrists or a short paid stay at a prison after you have destroyed a family through rape or murder, and what it shouid mean is a trip to the organ bank so you can be harvested to get whatever is useful out of your otherwise beneath human form.
Also, accountability. Thou shalt not get away with it. That might be unachievable in the main, but it is something to aspire to. That doesn’t mean a slap on the wrists or a short paid stay at a prison after you have destroyed a family through rape or murder, and what it shouid mean for felons is a trip to the organ bank so you can be harvested to get whatever is useful out of your otherwise beneath human form.
Now, please, let’s get back to some Trek stuff. Like ‘I’m not going to kill — today.’ Or would ‘I … have had … enough of you’ be more appropriate?
That doesn’t take away the point I don’t want Star Trek shows headlining genocidal maniacs as their leads regardless what universe they came from.
That’s just not what Star Trek is or I wouldn’t be watching it
As far as Section 31 I wouldn’t want a show in their current form either. That’s literally why so many wanted Bashir as a part of it because he would make it more credible than what Sloan and others did with it. Change the system from within. Do you see someone like Georgiou ever doing that? I don’t lol.
Relax it’s just a tv show.
No thankfully it’s just a TV movie!
Or a backdoor pilot
Or just a streaming movie.
Backdoor pilot sounds like the name of a rejected SNL skit. Like “Vegan Trucker.”
we dont know what timeline they are in… they can be anywhere… since paramount is budget conscious now they will be using old props and uniforms so it should be a timeline that’s familiar to the budget.
im hoping for post picard era so canon wont be a big issue with everyone. i suspect when pics get leaked eagle eyes fans will notice tech and uniforms to give away where they are.
They’re in the prime timeline. Other than the mirror universe episodes, Discovery has always been in the prime timeline.
no i meant what era… sorry… my bad… snw era or post picard era etc…
Ah, I see.
If they want to be budget conscious the most likely era would be the 23rd century since that’s where Discovery was from before jumping to the future and that’s where SNW takes place.
The picture with Yeoh doesn’t really show enough set to be sure (probably intentionally).
The set resembles the Discovery sets.
Have followed Rob Kazinsky ever since Pacific Rim. He’s a good guy. He’d been training very hard ahead of a Toronto shoot he was ridiculously excited about. Lovely to see it was for this.
He really loves Star Trek and said he was thrilled to have just met Jonathan Frakes and that Frakes knew his name.
So you guys go to the same gym?
Follow on social media. He’s made a lot of posts about his fitness regimen and why he was going so hard for a mystery role.
Not stalking him in real life.
Lol, got it! :-)
Section 31 will make history as the first Star Trek TV movie. I hope this opens the door for other Star Trek TV movies featuring Star Trek alumni.
If the Picard movie is true, it seems they prefer actors known well outside of Star Trek to star in these. Yeoh, Stewart…
So maybe Bakula.
I think one of the Trek podcasts had picked up on the fact that a Picard Trek feature was bulls**t. Wouldn’t be holding my breath on that one, either.
Frankly I think you’re right. I think people just misunderstood Patrick’s somewhat rambling train of thought.
That’s where I’m at too. But then all the movie ‘projects’ all seem like a joke at this point. This is probably the only guaranteed movie we’ll get for years unless its big enough for another P+ movie.
50 years too late. If they’d gone this route in the 70s that would have been close to ideal.
Gotta get those legacy characters in eh.
Does a Legacy character owe you money?
Emily hates anything legacy or nostalgia. The mere sight of it in a post makes her eyes twitch. Even though most fans want nostalgia and legacy characters. She would prefer some sort of generic sci-fi series that has no ties or mentions to anything Star Trek except for the name Star Trek. Which, in itself, is nostalgia.
In the 90s I was hoping UPN would commission some, namely things with the TOS cast in the movie era.
I’m optimistic, to be honest. Yet, I’m more hyped about season two of Star Trek: Prodigy on Netflix.
Whoah! Talk about bringing out the heavy hitters … I think I’ve got stars in my eyes!
😄
No Shazad Latif / Ash Tyler announced….thats a bummer
Just because he’s not part of the principal cast doesn’t mean we won’t see him in a small guest role.
Still can’t quite believe that this is real. The story of a genocidal, Kelpian eating Dictator who we are supposed to root for as the hero.
Yum yum indeed Gene.
Laughs in Xena: Warrior Princess. Redemption stories are pretty classic. I wonder if they will cast a plucky blonde sidekick.
In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings… A land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Georgiou, a mighty Emperor forged in the heat of battle. The power… the passion… the danger… Her courage will change the world.
And I can’t get the Xena theme tune off my head now after reading this. Thanks for that :))
Kelpian tastes just like chicken. Don’t knock it until you try it.
Strong Cast.. we shall see.
I’m actually disappointed this project is moving forward. Especially if Legacy doesn’t move forward. I hope they’re cooking something up that will genuinely surprise me and that I’m wrong and love the end product, but man, modern Trek creative teams really don’t understand Section 31 and the recent case studies don’t give me any reason to feel differently.
Section 31was announced years go. Success of this film (and the correct potential merger) could pave the way for Legacy, which I would also love to see happen.
It won’t happen
S31 has been cooking for quite a while now, and I’m sorry, but Jeri Ryan is no Michelle Yeoh. Legacy only exists somewhere in Terry Matalas imagination, where it’s likely to stay for quite a while.
Yep. Legacy may get a TV movie or two, but that’s it.
We’ve got a Section 31 movie shooting, Starfleet Academy announced and absolutely nothing from Paramount beyond that. Star Trek is in a holding pattern.
No Michelle Yeoh, no Section 31 movie. That’s the long and short of it.
As for everything else Star Trek related, nothing has been announced past the Academy series. For all intents and purposes, Star Trek is currently on hold at Paramount+.
They obviously want to try this TV movie idea out to see if it’s gets bling and viewership numbers. If Yeoh was not available, we’d be getting a different DSC spinoff movie to try out the concept — perhaps a Prime Lorca movie or a Burnam post-DSC movie.
Yup, if this works it could be the new path forward. Movies will come in for a lot less than a weekly series and present all sorts of stories.
It makes way more sense to do Star Trek streaming movies instead of $200 million theatrical movies too that only Trekkies cares about. If they tried to put a new JJ verse movie on streaming it probably would’ve been made years ago now.
Star Trek is never going to be Star Wars or Marvel. Make smaller movies for fans again just like the shows. They obviously know Section 31 isn’t big enough to be a theatrical movie even though Yeah is hot right now because it’s still going to just be Trek fans who cares. This is the way to go because it’s cheaper and they have a guaranteed audience.
Make Legacy streaming movies if they can’t afford to do a show. Those would be huge hits.If Section 31 manages to be a hit even though Adolf is so divisive in the fanbase then a Legacy movie is a no brainier to do next.
S31 played a huge part in Star Trek Into Darkness. In my opinion the best trek movie ever made.
Um…Ok.
Don’t see what that has to do with making another movie, especially when people partly blame STID for Beyond bombing since so many fans hated that movie and refused to see the next one.
Don’t know how true that is but STID was when the downfall started and that was over a decade now.
Terry just a wants a paycheck
Doesn’t everyone who works on something want a paycheck?
Buddhist Monks don’t get paychecks.
You should go buy the Picard Legacy Blu-Ray boxed set, because that’s going to be the only Legacy Star Trek you will likely be seeing outside of perhaps one or two TV movies.
As someone who really wants the Legacy thing to happen (although if it does, please Jezebel Jones give it a fresh title), I could see a miniseries instead of a couple of movies. A five-to-six episode story that involves not only Captain Seven and crew, but various other “legacy” characters. One of the big predictions before PIC S3 began was that the plot would involve the parasitic aliens from TNG’s “Conspiracy.” I still think that’s a viable story.
Perhaps. We need to all watch the S31 movie in big numbers to show P there is an audience for limited offerings like TV movie and mini-series. If it fails, I doubt we will see any more TV movies or mini-series any time soon.
Agreed.
It’s good news that one of the announced projects is moving forward though I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I am not familiar with any of these actors.
I’m curious to know if the emperor will be back in the 23rd century since it was said on Discovery that her molecules wanted to return to that time or something strange like that. I didn’t quite understand that part.
For once, no freaking geriatric legacy characters. And you can bet there’s not going to any animation crossover sitcom characters or any BS song and dance numbers..thank God!
Finally some original Star Trek!
Is it entirely necessary to toss out an insult about legacy characters to convey your excitement about casting? Couldn’t you just say “hey, awesome casting!” or something of the sort and use your comment space to talk about the new actors? Instead, you chose to use the word “geriatric” as a slur. There’s no mention of “legacy” characters as of yet. So why go negative? You and I have commented back and forth for many years; I know you’re passionate about Trek, but your comment is dark. This is the first substantial news we’ve had about S31 in ages.
You have a point — I should have come across as more positive. But yeah, I do feel that this new direction without the shoehorned legacy characters, without the sitcom cartoon stuff, and without the gimmicks like musical numbers and canon easter eggs — all this gets me really excited about this Section 31 movie, which looks to be the most original Star Trek we have seen since DSC S1.
I could have made my point in a softer way, so for that I apologize, but thank you for getting my point. I do love a lot of the nostalgia of PIC and LDS … but .. like you I am excited about the possibility of the new. I’ve been impatiently waiting on this S31 project to materialize for years now. Casting news along with confirmation that production is officially underway … bring it on!
100%, my friend!
Emily? Is that you? lol
Lol, yeah that would apply here.
Thank the great post singularity computer in the sky for that. I can’t wait to see this.
This is a solid group of actors and I am glad they went with more character actor types. I remember seeing Kacey Rohl in the Hannibal Tv show (irony alert: A Bryan Fuller creation) and she was very good there. Anybody knows what is the full budget of this movie? I feel like it can’t be that much considering Paramount+’s economic woes. This is why I don’t think the movie will include multiple timeline’s. I am leaning more towards the 23rd century since they could use SNW’s assets for this.
My guess is it will be a smaller movie, maybe between $20-30 million. Could be more but I don’t think we are looking at Netflix or Apple budgets here. ;)
Best guess is that they’ll bring it in for just over $20 million (lots of time on sets, very little or no location shoots). Money is tight over there.
Yeah agree per usual Denny C!
I would be really surprised if they shared any of SNW’s sets beyond the AR wall. SNW is currently in active production so they need those sets. Paramount may be economically “depressed” right now, but we’re talking about a project starring a recent Oscar winner. I’m sure they tossed out more nickels and dimes to make this film as special as possible.
Unless most of the budget went to the Oscar winner.
Discovery’s assets were largely for a 23rd century setting so they may have kept some of those.
I just hope they put it out on standard clear blue case blu-ray
and the pointless steel book blu-rays which are way overpriced mainly cause of the stupid metal case and equally pointless 4k disks which the human eye can not even see 4k anyways for those who prefer to waste there money on those releases for some reason
and it would be also doubly awesome If the blu-ray released the same day as the movie drops on paramount+
I am sure there will be multiple purchasing options when this film is released to home media, just like all other recent Trek releases – DVD, standard Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray in Steelbook casing, and 4K Blu Ray.
I seriously doubt, however, they would ever release the home media the same day it drops on P+. Why would they do that?
Looking forward to this since it’s no longer (thankfully) a show anymore. I don’t really care about Georgiou but it would be nice to see Yeoh back. I hope it’s going to be a really trippy story so we’ll see. It’s not the top thing I’m looking forward to (that would easily be Prodigy) but hope it’s fun.
My thoughts exactly. As with everything, it’ll all come down to how good (or bad) the writing is.
Exactly. I get some people have already drawn conclusions, but I just believe in staying open minded. I’ve done with every Trek show and movie to this day. Some have surprised me, others not so much lol. But I don’t make up my mind until I see the thing. Hopefully it will convince some of the naysayers who already wrote it off.
Yeah, the Georgiou character has a sketchy past, but it is great to see Michelle Yeoh back in the Trek universe.
I am not familiar with the cast members, but from the majority of today’s posts, it sounds like they have assembled some great current talent. Beyond Georgiou, it looks like the rest of the cast doesn’t come with any cannon baggage. It would have been nice to see Bashir or another legacy character but this ensemble looks great and that is refreshing.
Hopefully they come up with a cool story to go along with the new cast of characters.
Actually I do know one of the new actors well, the black one, Sam Richardson. Everyone keeps mentioning Ted Lasso and he was great in it, but he was in 4-5 episodes. But his real big break came in Veep. He was a main character for 5 seasons and funny as hell. There are clips of him on Youtube from that show that are hysterical. And he’s been in a lot of other stuff cited including quite a few movies. And someone mentioned he was in Lower Decks for two episodes. I don’t know the character he played so have to look it up but he already has his Trek cred (I don’t know how TM managed to miss that one….shame!). It is interesting he’s basically a comedic actor. Maybe he’s done some serious roles, but I’ve never seen any of them.
The others I don’t know at all. I did watch Hannibal which one of the actors was in but I forgot so much of that show.
Hopefully they will all be great.
Yup. One and done is fine.
Agreed. Now if it’s actually really good, I can be open to more. But I’m not pining for more either.
Can’t stand Georgiou either but I’m staying open minded. And it would’ve been much more divisive if it was a show. With a movie it’s easier to swallow this idea.
I still have my doubts this is going to be any good or I will like Georgiou more but I can be surprised. And I hope I am.
Same! :)
It’s a Backdoor pilot for a show.
I don’t care either way.
No lies tiger
I really really don’t care. But I’m OK with a movie.
The cast is amazing. I never wanted this movie but the cast is making me change my mind a bit. Looks very solid. Maybe if its successful they will make more Star Trek movies, i hope so.
Ricky wonders why this project was greenlit or approved. The audience and results will be lackluster at best. But time will tell. <discuss!>
Why? Michelle Yeoh.
I am really hoping that Carl puts the emperor back on the Sarcophagus ship and The Emperor changes places with our original Captain, and then the movie follows good Capt G getting acclimated into Section 31. We can dream, can’t we?
OMG ITS HAPPENING
Up until now Section 31 has been cast in a bad light. So now they’re getting their own show?
I preferred Michelle Yeoh when she briefly played a good captain. I was so excited and then so bummed out for her to play a campy Buffy-style evildoer. The depressing Section 31 obsession is part of a grimdark fan culture under the mistaken post-9/11 impression that evil is more interesting than good.
They can still switch the bodies- what i a hoping for!