Star Trek Is Entering Phase 2 At Paramount, Here’s The Plan
Star Trek Phase 2 is about to switch gears and create made-for-streaming movies instead of TV shows.
Alex Kurtzman has been hard at work with the Star Trek franchise at Paramount+, and as we enter Phase 2, the executive producer has big plans for Section 31. What was originally intended to be a new spinoff series of Discovery, will now be developed into a tent pole feature film for the streaming platform, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie will star Michelle Yeoh, who will be reprising her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Discovery, and some sources have described the project as “Mission: Impossible meets Guardians of the Galaxy.”
The decision to take Star Trek‘s Phase 2 in this direction was three-fold. Scheduling is always an issue, and given that Michelle Yeoh recently won an Oscar for Best Actress for her lead role in Everything Everywhere All at Once, there are concerns about her being able to commit to a long-running series. Furthermore, an over saturation of Star Trek series could cause fatigue for fans who already have so many great series to commit to.
Lastly, there has been a desire to get back into the feature film space, and the new plan will be for Kurtzman and Paramount+ to put out a new made-for-streaming movie every two years under the new structure.
Kurtzman is no stranger to putting out feature films. After all, he co-wrote 2009’s Star Trek feature film and followed up with 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, both of which were massively successful films. So it makes sense for Star Trek to steer into this territory during Phase 2.
Though Michelle Yeoh may not have been able to commit the time to Section 31 if it were a series, she remains loyal to the project. Yeoh had a recurring role in Discovery for the first three seasons of the series, and The Hollywood Reporter covered her commitment to Section 31 as early as 2018. As Kurtzman’s Star Trek franchise enters Phase 2, it simply seems like the right place and time to explore the potential of feature films.
For those of you who aren’t up to speed on all the inner workings of the Federation, Section 31 is a reference to the Starfleet Charter, Article 14, Section 31, which states that extraordinary measures are allowed to be taken in times of extreme threat. Some of these extraordinary measures include sabotaging enemy technology, engaging in biological warfare, and even preemptive assassination measures. With feature films becoming a bi-annual staple during Star Trek’s Phase 2, there is a lot of fertile ground to explore, especially if Section 31 gets a sequel treatment.
Though Kurtzman’s Star Trek franchise has Yeoh on board for this portion of Phase 2, we don’t know if she will be committed to future feature films at this point in development. While anything is possible, it’s worth noting that Michelle Yeoh is booked solid through 2026 on a number of film projects, including A Haunting in Venice, Wicked: Part One, Wicked: Part Two, and Avatar 4. These are just the projects that are currently filming.
Throw Section 31 in the mix, on top of projects that are currently in post-production, she’s certainly got a jam-packed schedule.
Production of Star Trek’ Section 31 will begin in late 2023 and will be the first of hopefully many made-for-streaming movies under this new initiative.
