The official trailer for “Star Trek: Part 31” is right here, and it’s clear as soon as once more that Paramount+ is boldly going into uncharted territory for the franchise: The primary ever direct-to-streaming “Star Trek” film may very nicely, as Jonathan Frakes famous to IndieWire earlier this yr, open up an entire new format for “Star Trek” storytelling — a format that might merely permit for an entire new array of “Star Trek” tales to be instructed.
Michelle Yeoh is again as sassy, psychopathic Philippa Georgiou, who was the Emperor of the Terran Empire within the mirror universe, the place she ate conquered topics and threw nemeses in her “agony sales space” at a whim. She’s joined by Omari Hardwick, Sam Richardson, Robert Kazinsky, Kacey Rohl, Sven Ruygrok, James Hiroyuki Liao, Humberly Gonzalez, and Joe Pingue. Miku Martineau will play younger Philippa Georgiou.
Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, with a screenplay by Craig Sweeny and story by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt, “Part 31” is anticipated to deal with Georgiou within the late twenty third or early twenty fourth century (and embody an look from doomed “Yesterday’s Enterprise” captain, Rachel Garrett), after she parted methods as soon as and for all with the Discovery crew. On this trailer, she’s apparently working her personal area station, which is a few sort of floating pleasure palace, it seems to be like. However in fact, the Federation pulls her again in.
The existence of Part 31, a clandestine black ops intel group inside Starfleet, was first revealed on “Star Trek: Deep House 9” within the ’90s. Usually depicted as morally bankrupt, the concept is that Part 31 is prepared to do no matter it takes to guard the Federation. It’s “the ends justify the means” right here to guard the remainder of the interstellar union and be certain that Starfleet may be as pie-eyed and optimistic and egalitarian as they wish to be. Because the trailer says right here, “to guard the sunshine, they combat in shadow.” Somebody has to do the soiled work so everybody else can hold their arms clear.
Is that this a betrayal of the Federation’s values? (Or a betrayal of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry’s values?) Nicely, to many different Starfleet characters depicted within the franchise over time, it’s. (Part 31 was depicted on “Star Trek: Enterprise” as even predating the Federation, present as early because the 2150s.) It’s additionally a method for “Star Trek” to have it each methods: If none of your characters have battle, in the event that they’re all good individuals, it may be powerful to search out the drama. By specializing in Part 31, it’s just like the writers having enjoyable with being unhealthy. However in fact, in very PG-13 phrases.
Will all of it maintain collectively? We’ll discover out, when “Star Trek: Part 31” streams on Paramount+ January 24.