The next major Star Trek property to pop up after Star Trek: Lower Decks will be Star Trek: Section 31. It's the first ever non-theatrical film to be produced by the brand and it'll air exclusively on Jan. 24, 2025 via Paramount+. It's one of the most ambitious ideas that the franchise has ever produced, as it could be the next major wave of content for the Star Trek brand.
Especially as Star Trek's parent company, Paramount Global, goes through growing pains with its new corporate owners. Having a way to produce new Star Trek content without having to put in $300 million per season is a very attractive idea. It has to work, however, for it to be something that Paramount+ does more of.
We've heard rumors that there could be up to another two made-for-streaming films in the works, but we're not sure that's totally true. Though we're optimistic. Still, if Star Trek: Section 31 doesn't do well the idea of more made-for-streaming films goes up in smoke.
And that's just not fair. The idea of doing more films seems like a good way to freshen up the Star Trek IP every so often while keeping costs down. Yet, a massive flop from Section 31 would all but ensure that never happens. That is if we're assuming Paramount+ and those above them are looking at this as a trial run.
We don't think they are looking at it as a trial run, however. Section 31 was always meant to be a television show with Michelle Yeoh attached to it. Yet, for a variety of reasons, the show took years to get off the ground after its formal announcement. It took so long that the decision was changed to make the show a film and to wrap things up with a single movie.
We're not sure why, though the leading educated guess is that the film is going to cost a heck of a lot less than a show, and they get to get a Yeoh-led property out. It's that latter idea, a Yeoh-led Star Trek story, that we think is the driving force behind why we don't think the made-for-streaming future hinges on just one film.
It's very likely that Paramount Global wanted to fulfill the contract they had with Yeoh, knowing that she may be a hit for fans on their service, or knowing that it'd be more expensive to cancel the contract than to make something and so a film was made. Either way, it's very likely that there will be another made-for-streaming Star Trek film and it's very likely that film will carry far more pressure to perform than its predecessor ever did.
Hopefully, if there is another film made for Paramount+, it falls more in line with what Star Trek fans want and less in line with what clueless executives think the casual fan wants.