Section 31, debuting January 24th on Paramount+, is the first Star Trek streaming movie. The only other Star Trek movies we've seen have been theatrical releases. Those, as we all know, take a long time and a lot of money. But streaming movies can open up doors for stories we want Star Trek to tell. And according to Alex Kurtzman, in an interview with Trekmovie, "It would be wonderful" to create a Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy movie and even, possibly, a follow-up movie for season three of Star Trek: Picard.
While Kurtzman hasn't had any conversations with Skydance CEO and incoming Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison about Star Trek as of yet, he said that Ellison is "a huge, huge fan of Star Trek. He was one of the producers on the films that we made, and he loves it. He loves it a lot. So I’m sure those conversations will happen eventually."
There are a lot of reasons that Star Trek streaming movies could be the best thing that has happened to the franchise. One, the stories would come quicker, which means we wouldn't have to wait so long in between seasons of series. Second, the movies would not necessarily have to be centered around a certain series. For example, we could get a brand new movie about a never-before-seen part of the Federation and/or Starfleet which means new characters could be introduced. And third, for series that have ended far too soon, these movies could continue the journeys of the characters we miss. And fourth, when a series ends, we would know it wouldn't necessarily be the last time we saw those characters.
Section 31 is the premiere streaming movie for Star Trek, and while there are plenty of fans who are not thrilled with the idea of the movie or who haven't liked the sneak peeks and the official trailer, this could be the launching pad for something we didn't even know we needed. So maybe this is yet another reason to consider tuning in tomorrow!