‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Movie Officially Begins Filming at Paramount+

The upcoming Star Trek project starring Michelle Yeoh has officially begun filming this Monday (January 29, 2024) in Toronto, Canada. Officially titled, ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ is a spinoff to the CBS series “Star Trek: Discovery.”

As per the schedule, the filming will take around one and a half months and is officially expected to wrap on March 15, 2024. Olatunde Osunsanmi is directing the film based on a script written by Bo Yeon Kim, Erika Lippoldt, and Craig Sweeny.

‘Star Trek: Section 31’ is an event film that will follow the character played by Michelle Yeoh, Emperor Philippa Georgiou from the first season of Discovery. In the film, Emperor Philippa Georgiou joins a covert Starfleet division entrusted with preserving the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past. As the title suggests, the film will closely follow Section 31, an autonomous intelligence and defense organization that carries out covert operations for the United Federation of Planets.

Philippa Georgiou, a female Terran, was the Emperor of the Terran Empire in the 23rd century. As Emperor, she was formally known as Her Most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Qo'noS, Regina Andor, Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius. After a coup by Gabriel Lorca that failed due to intervention by the USS Discovery, she was brought to the prime universe against her will. After serving briefly as captain of the Discovery to bring the Federation-Klingon War to a close, she was recruited into Section 31. She subsequently aided the crews of Discovery and the USS Enterprise in defeating Control, an evil artificial intelligence. She traveled to the 32nd century with Discovery but was finally compelled to return to the past since she was too distant from both her time and her home universe to sustain cohesiveness.

Section 31 initially appeared in the “Star Trek” series “Deep Space Nine.” The organization has subsequently been depicted in the "Star Trek" series "Enterprise," "Discovery," "Lower Decks," and "Picard," as well as the film "Into Darkness."

A deleted scene from the first season of “Star Trek: Discovery” revealed Georgiou being approached by a member of the shadowy intelligence organization on the Klingon homeworld. Earlier, this project was developed as a TV series back in 2019, but last year Paramount confirmed that it would be an event film that will exclusively stream on Paramount+. This film is part of the ongoing Star Trek universe and will be the first in a series of Star Trek movies developed exclusively for streaming.

Currently, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 is also in production in Toronto, while the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery is scheduled to premiere in April 2024. 

Craig Sweeny serves as writer and executive producer on “Star Trek: Section 31.” Apart from directing, Olatunde Osunsanmi will also executive produce. Michelle Yeoh will executive produce in addition to starring. Secret Hideout's executive producers are Alex Kurtzman and Aaron Baiers. Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment serve as executive producers, with Frank Siracusa and John Weber. CBS Studios will produce. Sweeny, Osunsanmi, and Kurtzman all have overall deals with CBS Studios.