Like the espionage organization it’s based on, the Star Trek: Section 31 movie has been shrouded in secrecy. Originally proposed as a TV series to follow Star Trek: Discovery, and later revealed to be a direct-to-streaming movie, details about the project have been vague beyond featuring the return of Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh, reprising her Discovery role of Emperor Philippa Georgiou. A Comic-Con panel along with a teaser trailer offered our first real glimpse of Section 31, now set for early 2025 debut on Paramount+. And some follow-up SDCC interviews are filling in a few more details.
Taking on the Section 31/Starfleet moral divide
Since its first appearance in Deep Space Nine’s “Inquisition”, Section 31 has been a divisive topic among Star Trek fans. While some appreciate the moral quandaries illustrated by the existence of a shadow organization within the Federation, many other fans feel that the very concept betrays the enlightened future that Trek has always portrayed. Can humanity be proud of Star Trek’s utopia if it rests on a team that answers to no one? Do desperate times really call for desperate measures, and if so, how desperate do they need to be?
First seen in a 1998 episode of Deep Space Nine, Section 31 has been a contentious topic among fans.
The upcoming Section 31 movie seems ready to tackle these arguments head-on. Director Olatunde Osunsanmi doesn’t see the story as glorifying Section 31’s methods, but he sympathies with the mission they’re given. In an interview with CinemaBlend, he reveals the tone for the movie:
“Starfleet has a particular set of ideals and morals and aspirations, and I would say Section 31 also has a particular set of ideals and aspirations, but they both have different ways of accomplishing the same thing. And Section 31 is there to do things in ways that are… that Starfleet can’t, in a special ops kind of way.”
Falling outside the chain of command and answering to no one, Section 31 has never sat well with Starfleet captains. Benjamin Sisko was infuriated that Luther Sloan could operate with no accountability. Johnathan Archer viewed having a Section 31 operative on his ship, without his knowledge, as undermining his position as a leader. In the upcoming film, Rachel Garrett (played by Kacey Rohl) will have to come to terms with this same dilemma. Rohl explains in the same CinemaBlend interview:
“She’s straddling the divide between those two worlds as we say, trying to marry the Starfleet way of doing things and the Section 31 ways of doing things…. Trying to figure out which rulebook is appropriate for which situation.”
Kacey Rohl as Rachel Garrett
A crew of misfits… but not a Borg
It’s possible the most familiar element of Section 31 will be the assembling of a starship crew. This isn’t likely to be a team of Starfleet’s model officers, however. A crew of spies and assassins led by a former despot bears only the most superficial resemblance to any of the crews we’ve seen before. Georgiou aside, little is known about the origins of the other crew members. Hardwick summarizes the Section 31 recruiting ethos in a Variety interview:
“We take misfits, we take outcasts, and mean that in the greatest of ways, the most complementary of ways. But who all are very precise about what they do.”
If Star Trek: Section 31 tells the story of Starfleet not playing by the rules, then it’s fitting that the production loosens the conventions of traditional Star Trek filming. Actor Sam Richardson suggests that the chaotic world of Section 31 has found its way on-screen partially by taking a new approach off-screen:
“The other iterations of Trek are very naval. It’s a ship that has a hierarchy and protocol and chain of command, whereas this ragtag bunch… they have all these things, but it’s a little bit murkier. And so, they also kind of let us play with that and improvise a little bit, while still sticking to Craig’s script, a brilliant script.”
After the release of the trailer there was some speculation that the team includes a Borg, based on the look of Robert Kazinsky’s character being caked in robotic components. Due to this chatter, the actor felt the need to clarify on his Instagram that he is not playing a Borg.
Robert Kazinsky’s character is NOT a Borg.
A standalone movie, with a sense of humor
As newer iterations of Star Trek are released, it becomes increasingly concerning that newcomers may feel they will be lost without having the full backstory. With close to 900 entries in the Star Trek back catalog, viewers curious about Star Trek often don’t know where to begin. Osunsanmi sees Star Trek: Section 31 as a good entry point to Trek, with a story that doesn’t lean on the connections to Discovery or The Next Generation:
“You can hop right in. If this is your first Star Trek that you’ve ever seen, it is a great way to start. It is its own contained movie.”
Star Trek: Section 31 might be a different kind of Star Trek movie, and it may represent a different approach to storytelling, but the cast and crew insist that the finished product will stand alongside its predecessors. Actor Omari Hardwick told Variety about the balance of familiar Trek formality with the informality of Section 31:
“There’s still that marriage, the hybrid of the sort of formality that we grew up watching, and yet it still has this dirty, sort of edgy take on it—where a sense of humor is allowed.”
Previously, the cast of Lower Decks has also talked about receiving some leeway in the interest of building better comedy. The same approach could lead to a better “spy-fi” adventure as well.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the SDCC teaser trailer…
Star Trek: Section 31 is set to be released in early 2025 on Paramount+.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
