It’s been known for some time now that, following the success of Discovery and the impact it had on All Access subscriptions, executives at CBS had tasked the creative team to come up with some fresh ideas for more Star Trek content.
One of those ideas hinted at as early as November has just been commissioned….
This morning CBS announced that Michelle Yeoh will carry over her Star Trek Discovery character, Phillipa Georgiou, to a new series based around mysterious shadow organisation Section 31. Having appeared in the pilot of Discovery as the ill fated Captain Georgiou, Yeoh reprised the mirror universe version of the role as the Terran Emperor, ending season one in the prime universe after Burnham saved her from a coup, bringing her back when the Discovery crew returned to their own universe.
“I’m so excited to continue telling these rich ‘Star Trek’ stories,” Michelle Yeoh was quoted in the initial announcement. “Being a part of this universe and this character specifically has been such a joy for me to play. I can’t wait to see where it all goes – certainly, I believe it will go ‘where no WOMAN has ever gone before!’”
First seen in Deep Space Nine, Section 31 was an clandestine organisation that were on a mission to protect and advance the Federations interests at any cost. Acting above the law, and in complete secrecy, they would tinker with the fate of the galaxy to their own ends. After seeing their origins develop on prequel show Enterprise, Discovery producers revealed a scene cut from the season one finale of Discovery of Emperor Georgiou being recruited by the organisation; handing her a’black badge’.
While a departure form the Star Trek theme, Section 31 could offer some intriguing opportunities to tell stories from different perspectives and include some divisive politics which have been prominent in recent years. Star Trek overseer, Alex Kurtzman, recently told Variety that there were interesting points of Trek that had potential to go to these new places, explaining, “One of the things that is really beautiful about Star Trek is there are interesting offshoots and there are interesting areas in the world of Star Trek and points of view in the world of Star Trek that allow for tremendous variety in kinds of stories you can tell.”
It’s early days so not much is known other than the show being confirmed to enter pre production. However Discovery writing partner Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt – responsable for Discovrery’s half season cliffhanger last year and recent short The Brightest Star – have been hand picked to write the series as joint showrunners.
The new Section 31 series will star Michelle Yeoh and be produced by CBS Television Studios, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth will serve as executive producers.
Michelle Yeoh will be back a little bit sooner however as she’s set to appear in season 2 of Discovery which begins in the UK this Thursday January 18th, exclusively on Netflix.
About the author
Comms/Comms Relay Revisions from Beta Quarter 2025 Onwards
Following our last released issue of Comms as a downloadable publication, we've been moving to an easier and more accessible format by using Q2's website for various articles and updates throughout the year which has included some carry over features from Comms itself. After some trial and error experimentation, our 2025 plan began with some tests through the first quarter and a new comms line up for the site ahead of any plans by our next Fleet Comms Officer. To mirror the old style, reduce workload and offer some variety to our regular posts, we've broken down the year of updates through our operating quarters and scheduled in a rotation of our regular features to keep the fleet updated, entertained with some positive Trek hijinks and more. The current quarter (Beta Quarter: April, May, June) is the first full use […]
[Q2&A] If I Could Get Serial For A Minute…
With a long history and many people coming to SFC over the decades, there can often be a lot of curiosity for members – both old and new – about various subjects. From questions about our base structure, how to get four pips, how Q2 and Q1 diverged many moons ago.... even questions on the curse of the Daring. Sometimes we have questions where the answers are as mundane as the question. One of the most common.... what is my serial number and why do I have it? Like any account number in the known universe – whether it's your broadband provider or local Blockbusters – your service ID is a unique membership number that helps us identify each member whether we're updating a record or assessing a Fleet Support application form. With our structure and organisational systems based on […]
[Retro Review] Latent Image; Voyager S5E11
Running through annual check-ups and playing around with a 24th century version of a digital camera, the Doctor spots some weird scars on Ensign Kim. Scars that could only have come from a surgical procedure he developed, but has no memory of ever performing. The surgery isn't the only gap in the Doctors memory. What else has he forgotten? And how...? No matter the show or the season, Star Trek loves diving into the lives of it's artificial characters. Data explored everything from his basic rights to the meaning of dreams as he developed to become more of a person. For the Doctor, things had always been a bit more complicated. He was a program developed for short term use. A piece of equipment built into sickbay that could be turned off and on at will. While Deep Space Nine's […]
A New Class: Academy Revisions For The Class of 2402
It's only April and the year has been one for us to take a step back and review our operations to do some much overdue maintenance on our overall performance and offerings. One of the major hurdles for the second quarter is one of the tougher parts of Q2: The Academy. Once upon a time the Academy was a core part of the experience in joining SFC. After singing up new members would pass through the Academy, completing a series of tests before becoming an ensign, joining their unit and becoming an active member of the club. Many people over the years enjoyed the more immersive and playful nature of being part of an organisation modelled after Starfleet. Some didn't. As years went by, the franchise itself evolved, opening it's door to new fans who'd want to reach out and […]
A Fistful of Vulcan Emotions
Being a key element in the Sstar Trek lore from the very beginning, Vulcan mythology can often seem distorted by simplicity. Seen as a stoney emotionless species, their society is built on logic and science in helping them understand and navigate through the complexities of the universe. Though when it comes to them being emotionless, nothing could be farther from the truth. Once a volatile and primitive species, the Vulcan culture came from the teaching of Surak who learned to repress his violent urges and find peace within logical thought. Surak's teachings would become the basis for Vulcan core values for centuries. When it came to the original series, Vulcans were introduced through Spock – a half Vulcan with a human mother who often wrestled with the cultural norm of repressing emotions alongside the human half's more emotional state. Over […]
[Retro Review] Year Of Hell: Voyager Season 4
Embracing all aspects of science fiction has been Star Trek's thing since it's inception and time travel was no exception. Ever since the first time travel adventure with Kirk's Enterprise ending up in the 1960's, we've seen the various crews out of time and desperately trying not to change their own history. In one adventure, history would constantly change around the USS Voyager. One of the most memorable and loved two parters, Year of Hell remains a symbol of how desperate the situation could have been for the Voyager crew. As Janeway negotiations with an alien species for free travel through their region, a small annoyance of a ship interrupts them. Then suddenly, the timeline changed. The aliens, the Zahl, were gone. Erased from history. And the unsophisticated Krenim ship that was no match for Voyager one second was now […]
Related
Boldly Going Nowhere: Section 31 Quick Review
REVIEW SCORE FLEET SCORE Focused on the outliers of the Star Trek Universe, the idea of the Section 31 film was to go beyond Starfleet and present the universe from a different perspective and in a different way. An idea thats been done with some hit and miss success over the past ten years. Section 31's initial pitch and writing team was something that had the potential to be something we could enjoy and even with mild hesitation, we were eager to see where the once series would go now a new writer had condensed the vague idea into a one off experiment, a streaming based movie to add to the tapestry of different flavours Star Trek has offered in resent years. It was also an experiment in offering a first real glimpse at a batch of heroes […]
Section 31: First Look Trailer
Returning to the role of former Terran Emperor Georgiou, Michelle Yeoh's Discovery offshoot is finally coming after a long delayed development phase that's seen it turn into a one off streaming event. After all the delay we finally have our first look ahead of the films launch after a teaser trailer was revealed as part of Star Trek's ongoing presence at San Diego Comic Con.
Starfleet Academy Welcomes It’s First Class!
The first batch of cast announcements for Academy focused on veteran actors Paul Giamatti and Holly Hunter, the latter in the role of the new Academy Commandant, but now we're getting a full look at the shows first class of cadets as the first five are ready to enlist!
Paul Giamatti joins Holly Hunter for Starfleet Academy!
Looking ahead to the next generation of Star Trek shows, Paramount and Secret Hideout have already began announcing new cast members to lead the Starfleet Academy series coming to the streaming platform in the near future. News of the show has already turned heads with notes that the new academy campus will be the largest seen on TV so far, being filmed in Pinewood';s largest stage in Canada, though in terms of what to fully expect from the young adult drama, things are largely being kept under Red Directive secrecy. However we now at least know who will be leading the new class ahead of the shows production...
Starfleet Academy Series Announced
An idea teased and thrown around for decades will finally come to life as Paramount+ confirmed the next venture of Star Trek. As Picard and Discovery come to an end, we'll see a new brand of hero come to the forefront in Starfleet Academy in the near future.
JJ Abrams Announces A Return To The Kelvin Timeline
Way back in 2016 during Star Trek Beyond's red carpet premiere in London, JJ Abrams confirmed there'd be a follow up to the Kelvin Timeline's Enterprise crew with expectations on Beyond being quite high. Despite it being one of the few earners that year for Paramount, it didn't quite meet financial expectations for it's budget.
