Star Trek’s Alex Kurtzman on Why the Section 31 Show Has Been MIA

A Section 31 Star Trek present with Michelle Yeoh’s breakout Discovery character Emperor Philipa Georgiou has been rumbling about as a mission virtually for the reason that earliest days of ViacomCBS’s heady plans for extra Star Trek on display than ever earlier than. But as that plan unfolded, Section 31 considerably appropriately slunk into the shadows, and it seems it’s simply been biding its time there.

Even because the setup for Section 31 slowly rolled out—principally in Discovery’s third season jettisoning Yeoh into an unseen timeline, the place she’d need to steer clear of the crew she’d grown near through the years—information about Section 31 appeared to slide away. Instead, Star Trek centered on new and beforehand introduced upcoming initiatives like Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy. The thought of the present taking place any time quickly, initially meant to start manufacturing someday after Discovery’s third season had wrapped, turned much less and fewer possible. But don’t depend a secretive Federation spy group down for the depend simply since you’ve not heard about them these days.

According to TV Trek’s present head honcho, Alex Kurtzman, the present is trekking alongside simply properly, and the rationale why it’s been quiet is maybe not as a lot of a shock as we must always count on given the present state of the world. “We actually have a couple of [Section 31] scripts. Covid frankly, just changed the game for everybody and every show,” Kurtzman recently said on panel (through TrekMovie) about Discovery with the Producers Guild, alongside fellow co-producers Michelle Paradise, Heather Kadin, and Olatunde Osunsanmi. “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.”

Part of the idea that Section 31 might need been scrapped or as a minimum closely delayed is solely due to Yeoh’s personal latest busy schedule, touchdown roles in all the things from Gunpowder Milkshake to Marvel’s Shang-Chi, and her upcoming look in Netflix’s Witcher prequel collection, Blood Origin. But it really being right down to Trek’s grander plans taking a knock usually due to how covid-19 has impacted, and continues to impression, manufacturing, is a reduction to listen to. Section 31 will, maybe suitably, present up after we least count on it.

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