Star Trek: Section 31 will happen but in a much more limited format.
After years of being promised a full streaming series called Star Trek: Section 31, starring Michelle Yeoh, many had given up on the concept. The series was in development hell, and there had been no movement on it for years. After all, the series was announced four years ago in 2019. Just about before any other show, save for Discovery. Yet, for whatever reason, it never materialized. Until now.
Paramount+ (via Star Trek.com) has announced that Section 31 is finally happening but….not as a series. The show will be morphed into a one-off movie, likely to appease contracts that are already in place. It is being described as a “special original movie event”.
This could imply that films aren’t going to be the norm for now. The film will be written by Craig Sweeny. Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, and will be executively produced by Alex Kurtzman, Craig Sweeny, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, and Michelle Yeoh.
Why is the long-awaited show being turned into a film?
There are a lot of reasons why this is now a singular film and not a series or even a mini-series. It could be down to the length of time Yeoh wants to be a part of the Trek film franchise. Prior to her Academy Award win, which is front and center over the promotional material for the new Star Trek film, Yeoh wasn’t seen as a hot commodity. She now is. So maybe she has more pressing irons in the fires and this is their workaround to satisfy her standing contract with Paramount.
It also may have been turned into a film due to budget restraints at Paramount+. This is easily one of the biggest examples of how things are changing at Paramount+, especially with Star Trek, arguably the most expensive franchise to make that they own. A series could cost hundreds of millions of dollars due to the length of production, the number of special effects, insurance, and the like. A film, typically, is a lot less expensive these days.
You could easily do a Section 31 movie for half the cost of a theatrical Star Trek film.
The other reason is similar to each of the last two but a bit different. Paramount+ may have a contract with Yeoh and it may be cheaper to just make a movie to satisfy the contract, despite the Section 31 story being garbage. If they know it’s a bad story and it won’t do well, but contractually have to make something, turning it into a short, 90-minute story, and rushing it out the door is a realistic option. Star Trek The Motion Picture was in a similar situation, as was Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
So will we ever know why Section 31 was made into a film? No, but one can easily connect the dots, because regardless of the “why”, the whole reason comes down to money. If they thought a show would make more fiscals sense, helping draw in new subscribers, that’s what they’d be doing. Instead, this feels like a passive way to finish off a contract that no one really wants anymore.