Section 31 has been five years in the making. What began as a television series morphed into a television streaming movie that, according to director Olatunde Osunsanmi, is "just under two hours." [via Trekmovie] And fans are understandably concerned how those two hours are going to play out, especially since the trailer and first look were both darker in tone and didn't seem to match what Star Trek was "all about."
Osunsanmi, though, had something to say to the fans that are worried. In a recent interview with Trekmovie, he said "we worked really hard to make sure we kept up the ideals of optimism and kept up the ideals of what do we want our society to be in the future." He understands why the fans are on edge about the potential changes the movie could make to the Star Trek franchise, but he's hoping fans are pleasantly surprised.
During the interview, the director compares Section 31 to the CIA or to the Legacy Program. And though Section 31 has been depicted as the darker side of Starfleet in other Trek series like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he clarified that the movie isn't that way.
"Ond our movie isn’t that dark. Our movie is fun and full of life, and it’s also inspiration. And that was a delicate balance to to walk, particularly with a lead character like Philippa Georgiou."Olatunde Osunsanmi
Osunsanmi has been a part of Section 31 since the beginning so he knows Yeoh's character, and even though the trailer and first look gave us something that we're not quite certain about, we have to keep in mind those are only snippets of what will be. The director seems confident that this will be a movie Star Trek fans will enjoy. So maybe the trailer wasn't the best thing to promote the movie, and we'll find ourselves pleasantly surprised.
Section 31 premieries January 24th on Paramount+.