Star Trek: Discovery’s place in history will be debated forever, but here’s one fact: It kicked off a promising new era of Trek spin-offs, complete with a loopy star vehicle for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Everything Everywhere All At Once star Michelle Yeoh. The Oscar-winning actor stepped out at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 to introduce the trailer for her new movie, Star Trek: Section 31, which drops her Discovery character, Philippa Georgiou, (the mirror-universe warlord) back on the fringe of Federation activity, as part of a “secret division” of the Federation, per the official Paramount Plus announcement.
First announced in April 2023, Section 31 was originally developed as a spin-off series, but at some point — maybe after a Best Actress Academy Award? — Paramount ultimately decided a one-off movie was the best way to continue her character’s story. “Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of Star Trek launched,” Yeoh said in the original announcement. “To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that’s shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams.”
Philippa is also living some version of the dream in the SDCC trailer, laughing off mentions of her past crimes, wearing glam looks, and kicking ass, all while a trailercore remix of Beyoncé’s “Formation” plays. She may be facing down the sins of her past as she officially joins up with the Federation, but she’s having a damn good time in the process.
The film is written by Discovery vet Craig Sweeny and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, who worked with Yeoh way back on Disco season 1. In addition to Yeoh, Section 31 will also star Omari Hardwick (Power), Kacey Rohl (Hannibal), Sam Richardson (I Think You Should Leave), and more. At SDCC, it was also announced that Miku Martineau was cast as Young Georgiou, who you can see at the beginning of the trailer.
Section 31 is currently set to premiere on Paramount Plus in early 2025. And there’s more Trek to come, with Strange New Worlds season 3 in the can and a new spin-off, Starfleet Academy, currently filming.
You can find all of Polygon’s coverage of SDCC 2024 news, trailers, and more here.
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