In the galaxy of Gene Rodenberry’s 59-year-old “Star Trek” franchise, humanity enjoys an idyllic, utopian, primary-colored future in which a non-lethal phaser and a persuasive argument can put an end to even the messiest of conflicts. But even squeaky-clean Starfleet needs someone to get their hands dirty every now and again: which is where the crew of the new streaming movie “Star Trek: Section 31” comes in.
The project was first imagined in 2019 as a spinoff series centered around “Star Trek: Discovery” scene-stealer Michelle Yeoh, who plays Philippa Georgiou, the benevolent mentor figure who is killed and replaced by her sadistic counterpart from the Mirror Universe, an alternate reality in which Georgiou is the emperor of the totalitarian Terran Empire. Though the crew of “Discovery” initially bristles against the twisted version of their former leader, Emperor Georgiou’s propensity for backstabbing and fondness for bloodshed made her a perfect candidate for a different part of Starfleet: Section 31.
Created by Ira Steven Behr and first introduced in a 1998 episode of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” Section 31 was initially envisioned as a covert, morally grey, cloak-and-dagger branch of Starfleet whose existence is known only to those involved. Controversial since its inception, some “Trek” fans feel Section 31 is counterintuitive to Rodenberry’s optimistic vision for the franchise, but the organization has continued to pop up across subsequent versions of “Trek,” including the recently concluded “Discovery.”
After several years of development by Secret Hideout — executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s production company, which has overseen all “Star Trek” TV production since “Discovery” — and scheduling complications surrounding Yeoh’s Oscar win for “Everything, Everywhere All At Once,” “Section 31” ultimately transformed from a series into a feature film, written by Craig Sweeny and directed by frequent “Discovery” helmer Olatunde Osunsanmi.
The film picks up with ex-empress Georgiou in the wake of the “Discovery” finale, hunkered down and serving as the proprietor of a lavish nightclub and hotel in a remote corner of the universe. When a team of Section 31 operatives Alok (Omari Hardwick), Quasi (Sam Richardson), Garrett (Kacey Rohl), Zeph (Robert Kazinsky), Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok), and Melle (Humberly González) come to her bar for a mission, Georgiou ends up recruited to the cause, and joins the ramshackle crew in a race to stop an apocalyptic threat.
Ahead of the “Section 31” premiere on Paramount+, Osunsanmi spoke to Variety about what survived from the TV show to the film, collaborating with Yeoh on the character and her fight scenes, navigating the famously opinionated “Star Trek” fanbase, and his lifelong love affair with science fiction.
via Paramount+
Before joining “Discovery,” how much did you already know about Section 31?
I grew up watching “Deep Space Nine” in Orange County where I grew up, and that was my first introduction to Section 31, watching Avery Brooks [as Capt. Benjamin Sisko] navigate it.
How did you first get involved with the project?
I had heard that Alex [Kurtzman] and Michelle were having a meeting, and that she was pitching him something, and I was very curious about what it might be. After the meeting, I reached out to Alex like “Hey, what was that about?” He didn’t say much about it. I reached out to Michelle, and she said the same amount. Shortly thereafter, I got a call from Alex and he said “We’re thinking of mounting a project called ‘Section 31’ and it would be starring Philippa Georgiou. Would you be interested in directing it?” I said “Yeah, of course I would,” and that was six years ago. There have been multiple iterations since then, and now we are finally able to show it to the world, and that’s very exciting.
It’s interesting to hear that Michelle Yeoh brought the idea to Alex Kurtzman.
She knows the character better than anybody else — she got to play in two different versions of the character, in the Prime and in the Mirror Universe. Michelle is a force of nature. She was a major proponent, not only in bringing it to Alex but continuing to believe in it over the years, against multiple industry headwinds, schedule conflicts, and making sure that we had this window to finally make it. She was there for that character, there for the project, and there for the rest of us. There is no greater force in getting this made than Michelle. After that, Alex, the studio, and Craig Sweeny, who stuck with the writing all the way through.
“Section 31” began as a spin-off series before shifting into a feature film. What was the most daunting part of approaching that transition?
There’s so much story to tell within Section 31, and we had so many script and so many stories, being able to pack it all into one feature film box is a lot to stuff in, but it’s also exciting. Instead of a marathon, which is the approach you take when you’re doing a series, we’re in a sprint. The benefit of that is it’s a non-stop, action-packed wild ride. You’re able to get in and out, you’re able to very succinctly touch on a corner of the Star Trek universe that we haven’t seen before, as far as location outside of Federation space. While it would have been great six years ago to have made that series, we landed in a really good place being able to make the movie now.
How did you go about deciding which elements from the series made it into the film?
If you were to look at the television series and all those episodes written, then you were to look at the movie, they’re two completely different organisms, in that there isn’t one particular story that was picked out and turned into a movie. What you had was maybe one or two characters — Georgiou made it into the movie, of course, and then you also had Alok [and] Fuzz. Those three characters were the only elements from the original series. Other than that, the story is brand new, if you look at it within rewrites that had to occur between the television series and the movie.
It’s a Section 31 film, but it’s also pretty equally a Philippa Georgiou movie. What did you want to explore with Georgiou?
It was very important to see the completion of the Georgiou arc in “Section 31.” When we first find her as Emperor Georgiou in the Mirror Universe, she’s as bad as they come. Then she goes through her arc with the “Discovery” crew and starts to learn, “Hey, there’s more to life than burning and pillaging and spreading malcontent throughout the universe.” She can actually be a force of good.
When we find her in “Section 31,” she’s on the road to redemption. She has a second chance. It’s the final arc of her character in that she’s able to find redemption through the course of the story, and I think that’s what makes “Section 31” so interesting, in that it’s in the mission, and what everybody is trying to attain, to stop, to accomplish — it’s all inextricably tied to Philippa Georgiou’s character.
How much of an influence was Michelle Yeoh in developing the film’s story?
We went through every single page of the script as we prepped. Every line of dialogue, we asked questions — it’s not just the story, it’s also how do we play it? Why are we playing it this way? For her, those conversations are important to make sure she’s making the surgical strikes necessary to pull off what is an unbelievably complex and dynamic character.
Having those discussions is important because understanding where Georgiou is emotionally dictates precisely where I put my camera. I do believe in emotional based directing. Understanding the characters and the effect on the audience is where I generate my visuals from. There is no Emperor Georgiou without Michelle Yeoh’s influence.
You and Michelle have been collaborators for going on 7 years now, what’s the biggest takeaway you’ve gotten from working with her?
I always know what I’m going to get from Michelle — all the things you hear about her, they’re all true, and multiply them by 20. I really treasure the time I’ve had with her. They always say don’t meet your heroes, but I met my hero, and I’m more in love with what she does now than I was before I met her. If there’s one thing I take away from her, it’s her ability to be consistently the same person no matter what’s going on, no matter what stresses we’re dealing with on set or off set. She is consistently a force for good, and I think that is something to be admired.
What was it like directing Michelle for the combat sequences given she’s got such a prolific history in martial arts films?
I’m an action director and I love a good explosion and a good fight sequence. But you insert Michelle Yeoh into it, who has been doing it a lot longer than I have, and we’re a triangle: me, Michelle, and Chris McGuire, who’s our stunt coordinator. Michelle has been put in a lot of different situations with both fight choreography and stunts. What you realize when you work with her is she hasn’t just been put in those interesting sequences, she also helped create them.
It was incredibly collaborative working with Michelle and Chris. We just tried to do something fresh and new for the Star Trek universe. It always comes back to character.. Each punch, each kick, each jump, each dodge, all comes back to what she’s trying to accomplish for the character. In the climax of the movie, it’s a different sort of fight than we would expect for Georgiou. Without giving spoilers, she was really keen on making sure the love that she had and the sympathy she had for this particular character she was fighting was coming through in the punches and the feints and the blocks. It was a really intimate and fascinating way to create a fight.
Whether it’s in film or TV, you stay pretty squarely in the realm of sci-fi and horror. What is it about the genre that keeps you coming back?
I have a large appetite — yeah, I’m an action director, but I also love drama and emotion, because there can be no action without drama and emotion. Action only matters because of what the character is going through, so you gotta tie that action to what the characters are feeling. But I love science fiction because you can talk about how you want the world to be or how you want the world not to be. You can explore these concepts that might be too hard and too raw if you did them straight up as a drama.
You also get to envision and world-build in a way that I just find so exhilarating, while also at the same time, being able to build action into the science fiction, build in drama, build in horror. Science fiction is a wonderful umbrella that can accept all of these things, and I love being able to work on all of them at the same time within the same movie, within the same scene.
It’s really exciting to be constantly challenged in multiple disciplines, in order to bring a story to screen, which is why I’ve stayed with “Star Trek” for so long. “Star Trek” is an incredible challenge to make, because of its history, because its fan base is very acute and intelligent, and because doing a show or movie in space means you have to create everything. You are constantly challenged and put in positions that are difficult every step of the way in doing “Star Trek.” It keeps me coming back.
Some fans feel Section 31 is antithetical to the utopian legacy the original series was trying to build. How is your film in conversation with that debate?
Well, it’s square in the middle of it, right? There’s no better place to be than square in the middle of a debate. I remember back when I was watching “Deep Space Nine,” the debate raged on right when they brought Section 31 in. And that’s okay. It’s good to have these debates. But I am a firm believer that in order to keep utopia going, where there’s light, there is also a certain amount of darkness. We never want to look at that darkness, but it’s there. The “Star Trek” universe is vast. I think it’s a good thing that we explore different aspects of it that have already been established. I hope once fans see the movie, it can alter the debate a little bit, or keep it going.
They’re allowed to talk about these things, because it’s in their souls. It’s one of the most important things that they’ve experienced going on multiple decades now. In the end, it’s a healthy thing to keep talking about and going back and forth on.
Michelle’s said she’d be down to make more of these films and you’ve said there are tons of stories you wanted to tell in the Section 31 universe. Is there any chance there’s a sequel in the works?
That’ll be up to the fans. If they love it, the sky’s the limit. Anything’s possible.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
