Iconic actress and Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh is currently lighting up cinema screens as the shady Madame Morrible in Wicked. But early next year, she returns as another shady character she made famous, former Empress Phillipa Georgiou in the Paramount+ film, Star Trek: Section 31. Originally planned as a new Star Trek series, Paramount reimagined the project as a film last year. It focuses on Yeoh’s duplicitous yet charming character introduced in Star Trek: Discovery. The Section 31 movie debuts on January 24, and you can see the latest trailer for it right here:
So what can we glean from this newest trailer? Well, for starters, it seems much of the action takes place on a luxurious casino planet. (Or perhaps it’s a space station, it’s unclear). It reminds us of Canto Bight, the luxury gambling world from The Last Jedi. Longtime Star Trek fans will instantly notice an alien species not seen since 1969, the Cheron. Star Trek introduced this species, who are black on one side and white on the other, in the TOS episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” Star Trek fans thought they were extinct, but at least once survived, and is living in the Alpha Quadrant.
The titular Section 31 refers to Starfleet’s ultra-secret black ops division. Star Trek first introduced them in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a kind of galactic urban legend. Later, in prequel series like Enterprise and Discovery, we learned Section 31 operated secretly for centuries within the Federation. Although originally hailing from the dark alternate Mirror Universe, Yeoh’s character found a home within the secretive organization in the Prime Universe. We’re still not sure what Section 31’s mission is in the upcoming movie. But whatever morally ambiguous things Georgiou is doing to achieve her goals may be, she certainly seems to be enjoying them.
Star Trek: Section 31 hits Paramount+ on January 24, 2025.
