In addition to the release of the first trailer for Star Trek: Section 31, the Trek Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con revealed new details about the characters and more for the mysterious streaming movie starring Michelle Yeoh, reprising her Discovery role as Emperor Georgiou.
Section 31 is “spy-fi” take on Trek with canon connections
The Section 31 portion of the Star Trek Universe panel featured cast members Sam Richardson, Omari Hardwick, and Kacey Rohl, joining executive producer Alex Kurtzman and director Olatunde Osunsanmi, who talked about how we are going to see a different Georgiou in the streaming movie:
Osunsanmi: What shocked me about Georgiou [on Star Trek: Discovery] was that the writers killed her in episode 2. That took my breath away and then I find out she comes back from the Mirror Universe… interesting. And watching how Michelle separated those two characters, one of the Prime Universe, one in the Mirror Universe, was just fantastic to watch. And watching what she does in Section 31, which is essentially a third incarnation of the character because of all the nuance and the evolution that she went through to become who she is when we find her was pretty special.
One of the big reveals from the panel was regarding the character being played by Richardson, including the character’s name “Quasi” [note, spelling may not be exact]. The Emmy-winning actor from shows like Veep and Ted Lasso is a huge Star Trek fan who previously voiced a character on Lower Decks, He was excited to be bringing back a classic species for the movie, which Alex Kurtzman noted fits perfectly for Section 31:
Richardson: I play a species, I’m not human, that is a second iteration of it in all Star Trek. I play a Chameloid, which the first time you saw was Iman playing it in Star Trek VI. So, he’s a shapeshifter.
Kurtzman: Very, very useful to be a shapeshifter in the spy world.
Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, and Sam Richardson at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
The actor also talked about the action in the movie and working with Yeoh:
Richardson: Yeah, we we had stunts, we had a lot. I’ve never done stunts like I’ve done in this movie. Fighting, jumping, sitting down. You get all of it in this movie. We had an amazing stunt team team on this who make us look amazing. Everybody on the cast, all the stunt guys, put everything into this. Watching Michelle kick butt, she’s a kung-fu queen. She’s amazing. So watching her and getting to work with her in this has been truly fantastic. I think you really got to enjoy what you see.
It has previously been revealed that Kacey Rohl is playing a younger version of the character Rachel Garrett, captain of the Enterprise-C in the classic TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” Rohl talked about what stepping into those shoes meant to her:
Rohl: It was such an incredible honor. It’s just mind-blowing. I’ve been describing it like a warm bubble bath entering this world. It’s really, really lovely, and obviously, the character of Rachel Garrett is so cool. I am just incredibly honored and have watched that episode so many times now and shout out to [original Garrett actress] Tricia O’Neil. It’s just really exciting. My face hurts.
Kacey Rohl at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
The trailer showed how the streaming movie has a different take on Trek and Kurtzman talked about the approach they are taking:
Kurtzman: Star Trek, obviously from TOS, has this incredibly storied history of playing in genre space. Sometimes you’ll get a horror episode, sometimes a comedy, sometimes a musical. I think this is in some ways a natural extension of what you can do in the world of Star Trek the more you start spreading out, because this is “spy-fi.” The idea of doing a spy movie in the world of Star Trek is super interesting and feels like a really cool way to keep Star Trek growing. The other thing is because Rachel Garrett is in there we tie very specifically into canon and Star Trek. I was very excited about about that. It does have a different tone. It’s very fun. We are almost finished editing it and it is just a ride from beginning to end. It’s very, very fun. And hopefully it’ll be the first of more we do, not just for Section 31, but if you guys like it we’ll end up doing more of these movies.
Omari Hardwick, who plays a character named “Alok Sahar” [NOTE: Unsure of spelling] is best known to fans of the show Power. He offered his take on the movie:
Hardwick: I would say Guardians of the Galaxy on steroids. There is humor, ass-kicking, you know, you you have a love story somewhere in there if you guys want that… We have all of these people who are no strangers to the Star Trek Universe. What Alex and Tunde wanted from us was to make a a messy version of the Star Trek world. And so what you have is a beautiful mess… And we are very honored to bring it to you.
Sam Richardson, Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, and Olatunde Osunsanmi backstage at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
ICYMI: trailer
In the Section 31 movie, Yeoh reprises her Discovery role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, who “joins a secret division of Starfleet. Tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, she also must face the sins of her past.” Here is the trailer released at Comic-Con…
Star Trek: Section 31 was written by Craig Sweeny and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. It will be available to stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. in early 2025 and in all international markets where the service is available.
More Star Trek SDCC 2024
Check out our SDCC category for more from the Star Trek Universe panel, including announcements and reveals from Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Starfleet Academy. And we will have more coverage of what was said at the panel later this weekend.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Once. ONCE it was a musical! ;)
I thought exactly the same thing.
I recall some singing in Voyager and that legendary Uhura scene in TOS with Spock playing his lyre but never a musical.
TOS also had the space hippies singing but ya that wasn’t a mustical either.
Can’t wait to watch it.
Shaping up to look pretty cool. I hope there are more references to Star Trek 6!
I’m quite confident that it will happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if S31 was behind the Praxis explosion.
Guardians + Suicide Squad + Renegades + that Picard s1 ep in the nightclub on steroids
Plus Trek VI (obviously) and Mission Impossible (the crazy Cruise films)
I mean, this all sounds pretty interesting, but damn if that wasn’t trailer a rough sell of it.
To be fair it’s pretty clear that Trekkies were not the target audience for that trailer. Also it really didn’t tell us anything beyond S31 knowing who Georgeau is.
Well they did an amazing job of that then lol.
I would love to hear all the other major franchises from Marvel to Star Wars and someone says ‘well that trailer wasn’t made for them’.
I’m not even saying you’re wrong but this is the only franchise I know where people constantly say they are marketing to the non fans and as proven tune and time again it’s a gets them nothing but heartache.
I get the idea that in this constant effort to “broaden” Trek’s appeal, the initial marketing is to drum up buzz outside the core fandom. In some ways that’s simply a statement on the strength of the fandom: if it has “Star Trek” in the title, Trek fans will show up to watch. Unfortunately, the quality of the programming we’re being called up on to watch and support has suffered so much lately that it’s no longer a guarantee that core Trek fans will show up, especially as the franchise takes a direction toward exploring things that decidedly are “un-Star Trek” according to some (myself included).
However I’ve heard a lot – a LOT – coming from other franchises under the direction of the House of Mouse where their fandoms are constantly lamenting the slate of content being presented to them. Fan reaction to The Acolyte among Star Wars bros was visceral, and I only saw some initial episodes but also found it weak, uninteresting, poorly plotted and edited, etc. Same with so many Marvel shows. It’s all such bland, by-the-numbers committee-producing “content” to fill our screens.
I find it interesting that we are now 8 years removed from Star Trek Beyond, whose first trailer attached to Force Awakens was similarly loathed by Trek fans for feeling like “Fast and Furious in Space.” It begs the question: how well has the last decade of “broadening the appeal” worked for Star Trek? Have they actually succeeded in reaching new fans and demographics? If so, then why the constant need to “broaden the appeal” and bend over backwards to appeal to non-fans? And if the strategy isn’t working, why constantly lean into it?
My guess is – Trek remains about as appealing as it always has been to the kinds of people it will attract, and maybe even less so given all the attempts of late to “shun” traditional fans with this kind of marketing. I think fans by and large feel the “glory days” of Trek are far in the rear view, and the future looks less and less recognizable as the thing we once loved. Maybe after Section 31 is over with and we can assess it as a story and on its success for the studio, then we will be able to say whether or not this “market to non-fans” approach should finally be put to rest, and hopefully the creatives consider simply focusing on making good Star Trek FOR fans.
They need to rush a new trailer out.
Why? The first one was great.
It seems to be a very narrowly focused advertisement. But maybe that was intentional.
Agreed. That first one was the worst Trek trailer in many years.
Paramount often do a “style over substance” trailer first, before the other trailers go deeper. Beyond was a prime example of that.
Unfortunately they waited 6 months before they put out another Beyond trailer and it was too late.
The chamaloid character is exciting. Randomly, just yesterday I was in the Bronson Canyon cave where many of the scenes with Marta (Iman) were filmed for Star Trek 6. I was telling my cousin about all the Treks that had filmed at that location and then this little surprise.
Wow, what an awesome “coincidence”. Trek has things like that happen all the time. Did you know that Sally Kellerman, the original Elizabeth Dehner actress died the very same day Discovery passed through the Galactic Barrier in S4? None of that is a coincidence. It’s either a flaw in the Holomatrix or proof that Star Trek is sacred ground.
I think Sam Richardson is a great actor. Always enjoy seeing him in something. And bringing in a chameloid is exactly the kind of thing they need to be doing. Take something we’ve barely seen, and give it even more depth/backstory. That’s fan service done right.
But I got a chuckle out of this:
“What Alex and Tunde wanted from us was to make a a messy version of the Star Trek world.”
These guys have been doing messy since day 1. They live in that. So this hardly makes me excited. This kind of project is where I’m most open to experimentation. A one-off streaming movie is perfect for it. Nothing in this trailer looks or feels like Star Trek in any way. Maybe, that’s a good thing… but I think it needs something. We’ll see what the movie gives us on that front.
I dare to challenge anyone to tell me one shot in the trailer that resembles anything to Section 31?
That’s the biggest fail of the trailer for me among many, it doesn’t remotely sell you on the premise of the movie. It feels more like some genetic GOTG rip off than S31.
Excellent point about “defining” S31. I don’t think I can tell you at all what the premise of the movie is… maybe Emp Georgiou’s life story? The Book of Phillippa might be a better title.
What is so eye rolling is that they spent 5 years trying to get this thing going. It was in development hell longer than any other TV project and after finally figureing out something to do with it and THIS is what we waited 5 years for???
Thank Kahless they ultimately decided to go with SNW over this mess. People were already skeptical over a Section 31 show starring Space Hitler but this looks so lame and generic they really shouldn’t have bothered if we’re not going to even get a more believable Section 31 story.
…just watched the trailer for the first time. Thank the Gods this is a film instead of a series. I’ll try to make it through the film. Nothing in the trailer resembled Trek whatsoever, imo.
Yeah I don’t think we just dodged a bullet, but a bomb lol.
And maybe the movie will turn out to be great…but this trailer simply wasn’t. I’m hopeful the next one will be better but yeah I’m just not liking what I’m seeing in general. As you said, the main complaint from people who don’t like it is it just doesn’t feel like Star Trek. Sorry but that’s a big problem if you want those same people to fork over money to watch it. Hopefully the next trailer will correct that issue.
Someone posted the likes/dislikes ratio of the trailer yesterday.
Likes: 2.4 thousand
Dislikes: 9.9 thousand
I originally said people would respond to this trailer as badly as they did the Beyond trailer but it’s actually worse. As bad of a reception that trailer originally got it always had more likes, but the dislikes were around half the number of likes which is usually terrible.
This one managed to just be way more disliked after the first few days. Not surprising being a horrible trailer all around.
It’s not so bad if viewed with the volume turned off. I just can’t figure out what audience this is supposed to be for.
Studios are often so desperate to pull in lots of viewers they pick the most “popular” elements to release. That’s a big problem with this one at first glance. It’s more interested in catchphrases etc than plot development. Also, the idea of a Section 31 product was so polarizing that this trailer was bound to be questionable. I just hope the finished product has more depth and intrigue than what they chose to show with this release.
I’ve seen it 5 times and it never gets any better sadly.
LOL. It looks like something I would automatically skip over while searching for a movie or show on Netflix. I feel bad for saying that, but it is the honest truth.
As someone who has enjoyed the Section 31 stories on DS9, it doesn’t look like it’s made for me.
Hopefully a much better trailer comes along to change my mind.
Out of curiosity: Youtube removed the number of dislikes from the videos years ago so where are people getting those numbers from?
It’s right there on YouTube, now its at 3.5K Likes and 27.5K dislikes
Wow!
Am I surprised? No.
For me this is probably the worst Star Trek trailer I have ever seen.
Wait…27,000 people in 2 days disliked the trailer???
Why so few? 😂🙄
This thing was horrendous. I disliked my fair share of trailers like everyone but this was top 10 worst of all time levels of bad.
It just looks like a cheap show on the syfy channel with very cringe dialogue written by Gen Zers with two writing credits to their name.
The dialogue in this trailer is exactly why I worry about the Academy show because it will sound exactly like this and kids 900 years into the future will instead sound like every kid today.
I wish NuTrek could get some people who can just write believable dialogue for professionals and not just how people talk in 2024. It takes me out of the show sometimes.
There is a YouTube extension you can download to use for your browser or phone and it shows the hidden downvotes. Never used it myself though.
Ah, I see. It’s not a feature I miss so no need for an extension.
I don’t have the extension, the numbers are just there.
YouTube removed the dislike count in 2021. If you still see them you probably have the extension.
From what I read YouTube actually removed the dislike count from their API. So the dislike count you see with the extension isn’t actually based in any YouTube data. It is based on extrapolated dislike counts of the users of the extension.
Either way it’s not great and the upvotes are still tiny. But good to know thanks.
Yeah, it may not be exactly the reaction Paramount hoped for….
Youtube doesn’t give a damn if bots generate fake votes.
ok
A bunch of guys in their mom’s basement down voting a YouTube video with multiple accounts doesn’t matter in the real world. Even YouTube doesn’t care about dislikes anymore.
Sure
But I’m right though
Sure
Star Trek + spy-fi brings to mind Nimoy on Mission: Impossible…
True… but Mission : Impossible was awesome. This trailer was awful.
It’s not awful, it’s just different. Not all Trek has to be painted with the same brush.
The first trailers are always all about the spectacle, it’s the second ones that tend to say more about the story. That’s what happened with the ones for Transformers: One.
No it’s awful. Very awful.
No, it wasn’t bad. You’re just whining about it. Nothing new there with you. Sheesh.
In my opinion it was bad. You disagree fine.
And FYI, I said nothing but positive things about the LDS season 5 trailer, the SNW season 3 clip that everyone else is losing their hair over, the new casting news for SFA and the live action comedy that was announced I said I’m a bit excited for. It’s me and like three other people who even likes the idea lol. Go to all those articles and read those posts please.
Now on those SAME boards can you find a single post where I am calling people out for being too negative or ‘whiny’? No because I understand why message boards exist or don’t get triggered like a 12 year old because someone thinks a live action Star Trek comedy sucks. We’re here to take in ALL opinions man and not just the ones we agree with, Jesus.
But because I don’t like ONE thing out of Comic Con I’m now a ‘whiner’. 🙄
Enough already, ENOUGH ALREADY, stop attacking people because you don’t like their opinions. Disagree with me, fine, but stop the name calling and attacks, especially when accusing me of something that isn’t even TRUE!
If I’m not allowed to be critical of ANYTHING without you moaning about it then just keep scrolling man, sheesh.
For the 400th time, this is why we need an ignore button. Seriously.
“But because I don’t like ONE thing out of Comic Con I’m now a ‘whiner’.”
This is hilarious because I was just reading the thread about the SNW season 3 clip and I came across your post where someone attacked you and called you a blind Kurtzman apologist because you LIKED it lol.
Now someone is calling you a whiner who hates all things NuTrek because you hate this horrible trailer.
Just the way it goes right? Someone on YT once called me a NuTrek apologist because I had the nerve to say Discovery was canon. Even though I hated the show and whined and whined and whined about it for years, now I’m actually a Discovery shill because I have the nerve to just acknowledge reality? Or can still have issues with it but not wipe it from canon because I recognize others do in fact like it and it should matter for them like all the other shows?
Sure I can have an extreme view of something but I don’t need others to feel the way nor do I need my opinion to be a consensus. I really don’t care what other people think or thatI’mthe only one who believes it, so I’m always curious why some are so hung up with what I think?
Or because I have one opinion to the contrary that must mean ALL my thoughts are that way and to the extreme view. It’s never anything in the middle. It’s either you hate everything or love everything.
it’s maddening.
And so is that trailer.
I kid you not, during the first season of Picard I was accused of being both a shill and a hater of the show in the same week lol. It was on two different boards though. But as you said, that’s usually how it goes online. Someone sees one post of yours and in that instant has already determined your overall feelings over the topic and usually in the most extreme way possible. It’s very annoying but I’m guessing everyone has been through it.
I just wish people could disagree with others without the name calling, attacks or accusations. That’s what always irks me. And in this case the person who is accusing me of being whiny is one of the whiniest people here because all they do is go around complaining about how many people are complaining about something instead of just focusing on the actual topic. As I have told him MANY times now no one is forcing them to be here if they are that miserable. It’s just a message board a few dozen people even post on these days and the internet is a big place. Find somewhere else to go then.
But it’s funny the people who come on message boards and spend more time talking about the posters than just the topic itself while getting into constant fights are usually the ones who gets banned for a reason. But I think some of those people just have some personality issues and can’t help themselves as we saw here time and time again lol.
Anyway, I know I go on these huge rants and I really try not to but it gets tiring nearly every week someone is accusing me of something when I’m not accusing anyone here of anything. If you think my comments are too brash, understandable but I’m not here to ruin your day either, honestly. We just want to talk about the show and give our honest thoughts about it.
And it’s especially eye rolling when I have been very positive or at least optimistic about 80% of the other news we got. I’ve been pretty excited over most things here. And I have not called anyone ‘whiny’ because they have the opposite view or more negative about.
And I’m certainly not in the minority about my thoughts on this trailer. It’s getting slammed everywhere including here for a reason. Spend just ten minutes reading the actual comments from the video, it’s brutal. I’m actually surprised they haven’t shut down the comments section yet and they’ve done it before.
Yay, kick ass fighting as a selling point for Star Trek. I remember Gene Roddenberry enthusing on how Star Trek was about fighting and kick assery.
True story too, he was forced to add a bare knuckle fight into the pilot.
A Chameloid. Interesting. That sounds interesting… but the trailer is still really, really bad.
so the guardian, carl, sent her somewhere 2320+ i guess?
One thing I will say and what I had already assumed that when we saw her again that time would have already passed and she’s now embedded with her team and whatever year she’s in.
Others thought it would begin with her arriving I’m the new era and we see her start to make a life and connections.
I will give it a chance. Not what I want, but I will give it a chance. Glad it is a movie and not a series.
Interesting choice of alien. I thought Iman was good in Undiscovered Country. I mean when the real her was on screen. But it was a memorable performance. The voice. Those eyes!
David Bowie was a lucky fella to marry her. And yeah agreed about it being a memorable performance.
For sure.
so a little s31 but more ‘our man bashir’.
I think it looks great. I’ve always wanted a Trek show/movie to explore different perspectives of the Trek universe like Section 31.
Not every show/movie has to be set on a Starship with a Starfleet Crew exploring space and there is so much more to the Trek universe that should be explored too.
I hope this TV Movie does well enough that more Trek content can take risks and do something completely different from past shows/movies.
I also hope someday we will get a Trek show/movie that is entirely based on an alien species like the Klingons or even the Romulans etc or even a Trek show like the West Wing TV show would be cool.
As Kirk is famous for saying ‘Young minds, fresh ideas. Be tolerant!’ or the more famous message of Trek ‘to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.’
What could be more pure to the core message of Trek than the Franchise itself exploring new areas of its own universe. To seek out new takes/explore new ideas and to boldly go where the franchise hasn’t been before.
Good lord that looked awful
I think the section 31 idea with the superb Yeo could be fun… but I wish the trailer had a little more Star Trek. I mean you’ve got Rachel Garrett and the TOS movie era, show off the red maroons or a ship or something. I get you want to go different, the majority can be different, but let’s see a bit of the era just that we know it’s Star Trek.
I presume they going for Dune with the whole Emperor start given how awesome the Dune movies were?