Posted in: Star Trek, TV | Tagged: alex kurtzman, discovery, michelle yeoh, paramount plus, section 31, star trek, star trek: discovery

Star Trek Prod Alex Kurtzman Says Section 31 Still "On a Great Track"

One of the most anticipated, but kept at arm's length in limbo Star Trek series spinoff Section 31, which focuses on Starfleet's covert organization originally introduced in Deep Space Nine. Plans are set in motion for Michelle Yeoh to star in the spinoff once her Mirror universe Emperor Georgiou departed during season three of Discovery. Producer Alex Kurtzman, who's partially responsible for the franchise resurgence, opened up about the status of the spinoff at a Producers Guild panel discussion via Trek Movie.

What Happened with Star Trek: Section 31?

"We actually have a couple of [Section 31] scripts," Kurtzman said. "COVID frankly, just changed the game for everybody and every show. We were on a very specific schedule that then got thrown completely into whack because of COVID. Even Discovery season four started many months later than originally planned, Picard too. Everything got pushed… So we're actually on a great track with Section 31 and I'm very optimistic about it."

The good news is production has resumed on the current shows like Discovery, Picard, and the animated lower Decks. Season one for Strange New Worlds is also underway, which is another spinoff of Discovery that picks up the adventures of Anson Mount's Christopher Pike in a pre-Kirk U.S.S. Enterprise. Kurtzman broke down what went on in Georgiou's mind in the closure with her and Michael Burnham's (Sonequa Martin-Green) before her departure.

"Obviously, it's no secret that we've been working on Michelle's spin-off show for Section 31. So the big question was, how to do it in an organic way? How to do it in a way that paid off the relationship arc that was set up from the beginning? It's no accident that in the Discovery pilot [Michael and Georgiou] are walking through the desert, and in their final episode, they're walking through the snow in a visual echo of what we did in the premiere," Kurtzman explained.

He continued, "There's a whole relationship arc that they've had from the beginning of the series. And also Georgiou has really never confronted – in an honest way – the consequences of her choices as a Terran. And the closer that she gets to the crew of Discovery – with whom she's very bonded and does not want to say so – the more she is is forced to reckon with those choices. So, in knowing that we were going to bring Michelle into the Section 31 [show], we needed to give her an appropriate goodbye that tied up a lot of the story threads that we set up from the premiere of season one."

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