We got a teaser trailer and some details for the upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 streaming movie at Comic-Con last month, but we still don’t know much about the characters beyond the return of Michelle Yeoh, reprising her Discovery role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou. Now one of the actors is talking a bit more about his character.
Section 31 is “spy-fi” take on Trek with canon connections
One of the more familiar faces in the cast for Section 31 is Emmy-winning actor and comedian Sam Richardson. He was a guest Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast and was asked about joining Star Trek, initially talking about his excitement in getting the role:
“In [Section 31] I had a really great time. I’m a Star Trek fan my whole life, so I know every iteration of it, the motion pictures, the Shatner movies, the Picard movies… Loved the J.J. Abrams movie, the “2009” as we call it.”
From SDCC we learned that the Section 31 characters working with Georgiou can be described as “misfits” and “outcasts” and that Richardson’s character is named “Quasi” [note, spelling may not be exact] and he is a Chameloid, a shapeshifting species introduced in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Richardson offered Dax Shepard a bit more detail on his role and the historical context for the franchise:
“So I play a physicist shapeshifter, what’s called a Chameloid. This is the second time there’s ever been a Chameloid in Star Trek. The first time was Iman in Star Trek VI… It’s actually very funny. With Iman, it’s like this is a shapeshifter, you want to look good, ‘Yeah, I’ll make myself Iman.’ And then for me, it’s like, ‘Oh good, I’m going to make myself Sam Richardson.’ [laughs]. I’m going to accept it.”
So beyond having a good sense of humor about himself and Trek awareness, we learn that Richardson’s character is a physicist. Any good covert team needs a science guy, and so that may be his role for Georgiou’s team of misfits. During the SDCC panel, executive producer Alex Kurtzman noted it is “very, very useful to be a shapeshifter in the spy world,” so we can expect to see Quasi do some transforming.
The other supporting character we do know something about is Kacey Rohl, who is playing a younger version of Rachel Garrett, captain of the Enterprise-C in the classic TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” Rohl has said her role will be “straddling the divide” and she’ll be “trying to marry the Starfleet way of doing things and the Section 31 ways of doing things.” Other members of the cast include Omari Hardwick (Power), Sven Ruygrok (One Piece), Robert Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), Humberly Gonzalez (Ginny & Georgia) and James Hiroyuki Liao (Barry). Joe Pingue plays an interesting looking character named Dada Noe, who was featured in the first image (below) released for the streaming movie earlier this year.
Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou and Joe Pingue as Dada Noe in Star Trek: Section 31 (Photo: Jan Thijs/Paramount+)
ICYMI: trailer
You can see Richardson’s character put his humor and science-y skills to work in the trailer during a space action bit when he surmises the situation as, “It’s going to be bumpy and bad.” In case you missed it, here is the trailer again
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.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
