Paramount+ claims Star Trek: Section 31 is in development but we no longer believe them

ViacomCBS/Paramount+ keeps saying the Section 31 Star Trek spinoff is in development but we’re not buying it.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before; Star Trek: Section 31 is still in development…No, it’s not a bad joke we can’t stop telling, it’s the reality of the situation. According to Tanya Giles, the chief programming officer of Paramount Streaming, Section 31 is still very much in active development, via TV Line. The same thing we’ve heard for the better part of the last four years.

Something tells me that’s not the whole story. The show, greenlit four years ago, is supposedly set to feature Michelle Yeoh returning as Philippa Georgiou. The show would center around the development of Starfleet’s darkest secret; the clandestine Section 31. An organization that tortures its own for kicks. So you know, not exactly the Star Trek we all want to see.

It was supposed to be a spinoff from Discovery but the landscape and demands of Trek fans have changed in the five years since it’s conception was first considered. Fans now (and always) want a more optimistic and wholesome Trek, something more akin to the likes of Prodigy and Strange New Worlds.

Section 31 has no real place anymore in the franchise, so why is this show, which is perpetually stuck in development hell, still getting hyped by execs who seem to have no desire to actually get it made?

Are ViacomCBS and Paramount+ just keeping Section 31 active due to Michelle Yeoh’s skyrocketing profile?

So the show is likely never getting made, but why is it still constantly getting the hype fest from the exects? Well, I have a tin-hat theory. I believe that Paramount+ sees the rising profile of Michelle Yeoh and wants to do something, anything, with her. I believe that Section 31 may have been a show that the folks at Trek have been hoping will die and they can move on from the concept, but due to Yeoh’s profile busting out big time over the last three years, there may be a push by execs on high to get Yeoh back into Trek somehow.

That means making Section 31, or at least seeing if it’s viable. Entertainment contracts are not the most simple thing to figure out, but I would be shocked to find out that Yeoh only has one more project under her Paramount deal, and that project has to be some sort of Star Trek property. Hence, why they would be so focused on getting a show that no one clearly wants to do, made somehow?

All to cash in on Yeoh’s more popular profile.

She’s earned it. Her work over the last few years have been praised by critics and fans alike, so it makes sense Viacom would do anything they can to try and get her to do more projects with them, but as I mentioned before, it’s just a theory.

I’d love to see Yeoh do more Trek, just not a Section 31 show. Heck, just put her in Strange New Worlds season three. Boom. Fixed that problem.

Now to tackle global warming.