Star Trek: Section 31 is a long-touted but still unproduced spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery. Set to star Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou from the main series, and featuring the titular behind-the-scenes organization, the show has been left on the backburner while newer spin-off Star Trek: Strange New Worlds pushed ahead.
Now, one of Discovery's stars has weighed in on why that's the case. Actor Shazad Latif, who memorably played Ash Tyler in the first two seasons of the show, says there's been "slight rumblings" on Section 31's future but nothing concrete.
"It's just been slight yeses, slight questions, but I've no idea," the actor told Digital Spy. "I think it's down to people's schedules."
While at some point in 2020, Section 31 had a writers' room, in February 2021 Paramount Plus exec Julie McNamara said there are still "conversations" about the show. A Variety report suggested the service wouldn't add new Trek shows to the rotation until one of the five currently in production – Picard, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and Prodigy – ends their run.
Akiva Goldsman, one of the producers working on Star Trek: Picard season 2, was asked back in March if Section 31 is still happening. "I don't know. I believe so," he said.
Section 31, then, feels like it's in limbo for the time being.
- How to watch Star Trek in order
- New Star Trek shows: what's coming
- Picard season 2: what you need to know
Analysis: Is this enough Star Trek?
Five shows is a lot of Star Trek – and the reason we're still excited about the upcoming schedule is that the series are different enough from each other to really stand out. Discovery is the flagship Trek show, and it takes some big swings in terms of storytelling. Picard is more of a character piece about its aging leading man.
Strange New Worlds, meanwhile, promises classic Trek adventures with familiar characters. Prodigy is a CG animated series from some of the minds behind Netflix's acclaimed Trollhunters series. And Lower Decks, meanwhile, is an animated comedy – and really couldn't be more different from the others.
That's a pretty robust schedule. It's hard to tell if Trek has the same mileage for franchise extensions as the MCU does, for example – to us, this feels like the right balance. After all, at a certain point, the volume of shows will probably stop moving the needle on getting subscribers to sign up to Paramount Plus, which is ultimately the reason they each exist.
