The Star Trek universe continues to grow with Paramount+’s next original film, Star Trek: Section 31. The character Phillipa Georgiou played by Michelle Yeoh was first introduced in the debut season of Star Trek: Discoveryas well as his Mirror Universe counterpart, Emperor Georgiou of the Terran Empire. Her character was last seen in the season two finale of Discovery, which teased her introduction to the clandestine world of Section 31. Now, after years of false starts and a move from a TV series to a feature film, Georgiou is back. Star Trek: Section 31.
Although many of the plot details are being kept under wraps, the film, which will be released on January 24, sees Georgiou forced to join a group of space vigilantes led by Omari Hardwick’s Alok Zahar and his trusted lieutenant, Zeph, played by Rob Kazinsky. . The cast also includes Kacey Rohl as Rachel Garrett, a character familiar to Trek enthusiasts as she will one day become captain of the Enterprise-C, as seen in the classic Next Generation episode, “Yesterday’s Company”.
At New York Comic Con 2024, Screen speech sat down with Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, Rob Kazinsky and Section 31 director Olatunde Osunsnmi, a franchise veteran who directed episodes in all five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. The group discussed their characters and their taste for Star Trek universe. They also talked about working with Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh and hinted at the potential for more Section 31 stories beyond this particular film.
The Crew Of Star Trek: Section 31 Introduces Its Characters
“She bombards this wild world that is unlike anything she has ever experienced.”
New York Comic-Con, welcome. I’m Zak from Screen Rant, and we’re here with the cast and the head of Star Trek: Section 31. First, introduce yourselves and tell me your characters. Tell me a little about what we can expect from you in the film.
Omari Hardwick: Speaking of guys, we have to go to the ladies first!
Kasey Rohl: I think it’s me. Hi, I’m Kasey Rohl and I play Rachel Garrett, who has been there before. Big, big boots. I love that. She is incredible. She’s Starfleet and bombs into this wild world that’s unlike anything she’s ever experienced and goes on a real journey. That’s my argument. Yes? Did I pass? OK thanks. Thanks.
Omari Hardwick: I play Alok Zahar, trying to solve my problems on screen. Not as Omari, but as Alok Zahar. As Olatunde, the big boss, said at the gate, this man has been around long enough to not only have gained experiential wisdom, but he also has a lot of pain from his past. So he’s trying to figure this out, and part of the movement of healing and reckoning and redemption, so to speak, that he’s going through is that he’s created this group of agents full of a heterogeneous group of people, individuals, who are policing all galaxies. , and we do it in a dishonest way, and then we come across Michelle Yeoh’s character, Georgiou.
She is somewhere in space. That’s why you don’t see her on the couch now. She’s in space. And on my left is Casey, like she said, big boots. Casey plays the character who’s there to police me, and that leads me to Rob, who plays my… He keeps saying left hand, but I think he’s my left hand and my right hand. He is the beginning, the beginning of this group that I created. The first choice or first selection was Rob’s character, Zeph.
Rob Kazinsky: I mean, that sums me up pretty accurately, yeah. I’m the most talented member of the crew, (laughs) the strongest…
Kacey Rohl: The most humble…
Rob Kazinsky: The dumbest, the hungriest. Yes, I play Zeph, a half-man in overalls, left hand, right hand of Alok Zahar who will pass, break and keep Rachel Garrett in line…
Kacey Rohn: Oh, is that what you think you do?
Rob Kazinsky: …The best you can. He fails horribly.
Rob, we’ve already talked about your character’s specific cybernetic enhancements. Is he human? Can you tell if he’s some kind of, oh, I don’t know, cy-“Borg”?
Rob Kazinsky: He’s 100% human. Craig Sweeny and I created a long and detailed history for him. It’s a cybernetic suit he wears, filled with enhancements he’s created and added over the years to help increase his mobility due to injuries sustained from his own actions.
Kacey Rohn: Craig Sweeny, our brilliant writer.
Director Olatunde Osunsanmi on Star Trek: Section 31’s Place in the Wider Star Trek Universe
“If audiences love it as much as we do, and I’m really excited for them to see it, there’s wonderful potential for it to continue.”
Olatunde, you are coming back from working Star Trek: Discoverya program that planted so many seeds that we saw grow into their own projects. Tell me a little about turning this sapling into a film.
Olatunde Osunsanmi: Discovery is present in a few different places. About five years ago, just over five years ago, we started this journey as a TV show. And I was invited by Alex Kurtzman and Paramount+. And we kept trying to put it together, and it kept falling apart and took a lot of twists and turns. And along the way, Michelle Yeoh persisted and persisted. And then we ended up in this form, like a movie. And it was the best version in all different ways. And Craig Sweeny wrote these unbelievable characters. And because of that moment, we were able to cast this unbelievable cast.
If it weren’t for Michelle just being the steward of each iteration, we wouldn’t be here right now. And that was definitely very special to me because it’s a two-hour movie, from start to finish. It’s been great getting to know the cast, some of you see here, some who aren’t here, who I hope will touch you and the audience in the same emotional way that they touched me with what they did.
I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, so to speak, or whatever the saying is, but do you see this as the first in a series of films, a sort of pilot in a series, or is this a one-off story,’ a Star Trek story?’
Olatunde Osunsanmi: Well, this is a very uncomfortable question (laughs). The wonderful thing about what Craig did with this script, and the wonderful thing about what Alex does with this iteration of Star Trek that he led, is… Every series, and now this movie, is so incredibly packed with characters, with the world, and so if the audience loves it as much as we love it, and I’m really excited for them to see it, there’s wonderful potential for it to continue.
Omari Hardwick: Potential is a good word.
Olatunde Osunsanmi: There are a million stories that could come out of Section 31, so I hope you enjoy them.
Kacey Rohl: Fingers crossed!
The Cast of Section 31 Responds to Star Trek Fandom
“The first interracial kiss, the first moment when people shouldn’t do what they did, was done on Star Trek.”
I’m excited to see this. I grew up watching the original series with my dad. What’s your history with Star Trek? Were you fans? Haven’t you seen it yet?
Kacey Rohl: Rob, do you want to start with this?
Rob Kazinsky: Star Trek is, like, the biggest event of my life, and has been since I was a kid. I grew up watching the original series movies, not the original series. My mom was a huge Trek fan. So I grew up with all of that and became obsessed with it. TNG kind of became a formative moral guide for my life, on how to be a good human being. It was all next generation. And then Star Trek continued to be so… There was never a time in my life when I wasn’t watching Star Trek, and then when I finish it and I go back to the beginning and I start again and I go through it. It’s my comfort show. I have the Starship buzz, thanks to Kacey, who taught me it existed. Now, it’s as if my comfort in sleeping is the hum of the starship.
Kacey Rohl: It’s really good. I strongly recommend it.
Rob Kazinsky: It’s my thing. And so I can be part of this world now! And it’s the best day every day.
Omari Hardwick: I’ve already stated that. I stated this today and I will say it again. It was really interesting for me to find altruism in our industry in this work. And what I mean by that is that many dreams have been fulfilled. When you think of a Bahamian boy named Sidney Poitier who works in the fields with his family, he shouldn’t become, on paper, Sidney Poitier. Rest in peace. And we all had our respective levels of this. We are all minorities in our own way. And I can say that as a Black American man, to my left is a woman, still a minority.
Behind me is this director who colored me, and look what Tunde has become in steering the ship, pun intended or perhaps not. But it’s been an incredible thing to be alongside Rob and see a little boy dream of being on Star Trek, and then to be on the first set with him, when on the first set for himself, that dream is coming true. That was crazy to me. I was more of a Star Wars guy, but I was absolutely a Star Trek kid. There’s no way not to be. You were raised in the 80s. I was born in the 70s. There’s no way to beat that. I knew that the first interracial kiss, the first moment when people weren’t supposed to do what they did, was done on Star Trek. And so it was an interesting experience for me because I knew enough about it.
But man, Rob was the greatest of Cliff’s Notes, because he taught me everything I needed to know and then some, and I’m still learning even more. But shout outs to Lucy and Desi Arnaz and Roddenberry and just all the fragmented pieces that make up the amalgam of the foundation upon which we now sit. So if TNG is an acronym for The Next Generation, Tunde and Alex Kurtzman wanted me to be part of a new acronym, which is TNG, The New Generation, and bringing with it young people who maybe didn’t like Star Trek as much. I’m so honored to bring them along and for a lot of people to become Trekkers. Very incredible.
Almost building on that, on screen, can you tell me a little bit about your chemistry with Rob and the dynamic that you have? Is it user-friendly? Are you boss and assistant?
Omari Hardwick: I think… That’s a really good question. I tend to go, I think the genesis of everything in life is getting to know the people who are in the cast. Tunde made an important point: he chose a great cast. But people are very important. And maybe, coming from sports, the big thing for me was immediate dinners. Tooney said it was unusual for the cast to get so close, but the dinners were so necessary. And Michelle is Michelle. Super legendary, but also super busy because she’s a legend. So wherever I could for the first two weeks, it was Kacey, Humberly, Rob, Sam, Augusto, Tunde, when you could join us, James and even Miku, who is our youngest group. My goal was to get together to learn everyone.
I learned Rob as a person enough to be able to inform a little more about what Zeph would be, on screen, along with Alok, on screen. So we loved each other before we started the first day. We kind of love each other’s stories. I knew about his history in Hollywood up to that point. He knew my history in Hollywood up to that point. So we kind of built it from there. There were no controversial moments. But it was definitely, you know, the boss (Olatunde) hired me to be in charge! So there’s no way I can’t boss Zeph around, but I’ve also found that you don’t necessarily need to do that when someone like Rob wants discipline. But let’s not get this confused. You are not about to control it. So I tried to make it so that Alok never appears while he’s controlling Zeph, but Zeph almost knows how to finish his thoughts, or Alok’s sentences before he even says anything. I think that’s what we built on.
Hello, this New Generation has a wide variety of tones. I mean, we just talked to the Lower decks team, and this is a hilarious show. Discovery It has its own vibration. Strange New Worlds, Of course. In terms of tone, where does this show fit into the grand adventure of comedy, fun, rogues, pirates, and vigilantes? Where is this show Star Trek?
Olatunde Osunsanmi: Well, that’s what’s amazing about what Alex has built in this iteration of Star Trek. It has all these unbelievable flavors and all these unbelievable colors in the rainbow for different fans to access. And, you know, fans will say, “This is my favorite, and this is my favorite, and this is my favorite.” Well, if you want a wild ride that’s, you know, jaw-dropping, twists and turns, surprises characters who are doing things they maybe shouldn’t be doing, plus a little bit of Starfleet with Rachel there, that’s still Star Trek, then this is the film for you. It’s amazing that it’s a movie. You know, we went in and out, and surprised a lot of people with it, and then we kept going, you know. So I really hope you like it.
Star Trek: Section 31 Cast and Director on Their Love for Michelle Yeoh
“She was an incredible dance partner. She is a beautiful, generous giant.”
Our missing center today is, of course, Michelle. We have already talked about it to some extent. Can you tell me a little bit, guys, about filming scenes with her, about exchanging notes, about developing your characters together? Tell me about working with her as a scene partner.
Omari Hardwick: So I think on day one, as Rob says, no ego was brought to this project, and his humility and modesty showed when Rob showed up to us on day one. So, on the first day of work, in the first scene, Alex Kurtzman and Olatunde gave us a great shot. It was just a nice, simple, simple work day between me and Michelle and Rob joined. He came on the first day of the set. Casey was there too, just so he could support us. And what I learned immediately was just generosity.
To your question, she is super generous, she wants everything to go in the direction of the North Star and not negative or downwards. She wants everything to be like this. Super proficient, obviously very athletic in Kacey’s opinion, great ballet and a genius at what he does. And so for her and me, it was talking about each other’s history, maybe trying to help each other create Georgiou now, because she already existed on Discovery. Alok is new.
She was very, very helpful along with informative Rob in terms of Trek history. She helped me a lot to understand who Alok was, because our characters are almost on the other side of the same coin. It’s a total “game recognizes game,” Avatar “I see you, you see me” moment. And then it was incredible. It was amazing to be able to take a rollercoaster ride in a movie to this point that Tooni did, where you’re not tied to the parameters of Star Trek, just traditional Star Trek, but you can go left and right and dance a little. She was an incredible dance partner. She is a beautiful and generous giant.
Kacey Rohl: I think what I would like to contribute too is that it lifts everyone up. She demands so much excellence from herself, and I think everyone, by being in her orbit, accesses their own excellence and delivers, and not from a place of fear, but from a place of joy and love for what we do. We are all living our dream jobs. And so I think I really experienced that. There is no part of her that calls or says, “I really don’t want to be here, but I am here.” She is happy. She is absolutely happy.
Omari Hardwick: And lots of laughs, always.
Kacey Rohl: Yes, and just nonsense! Right? So it frees us in a different way and becomes fun. I think she encourages that in all of us.
Olatunde Osunsanmi: I couldn’t agree more. It’s special to have worked with her for several years and see that she is exactly the same person as when we started. She left, did other projects, came back. The same person, disappeared, won an Oscar. I came back, same person.
Rob Kazinsky: I thought she was intimidating. (Laughs) I did! I mean, I walked on set and thought, that’s Michelle Yeoh! Actually, in my head I was like, that’s Philippa Georgiou. Whenever you’re working with a legend, there’s something like, “I should go over there and introduce myself and build a relationship and get to know this person.” And I went over there, and she was so silly. Just having fun. What I loved most about working with her, not necessarily as a person, she’s wonderful as a human being, was that she loved Star Trek as much as I did.
And she really cared about making this show as good as possible. And I wanted every scene to be as good as possible, for no other reason than to serve Philippa Georgiou’s character and make Section 31 something very, very special. Because she cared so much, it made me, not just as an actor but as a fan, very, very happy that she was there every day.
Learn more about Star Trek: Section 31
In this exclusive Paramount+ cinematic event, Michelle Yeoh returns as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, who was first introduced in Star Trek: Discovery Season 1. Star Trek: Section 31 focuses on Yeoh’s character as she confronts her past sins and is recruited by the secret division of Starfleet that protects the United Federation of Planets.
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Source: Rant Plus Screen