Section 31′ Star Is “Terrified” Fans Won’t Like the Spinoff

The Star Trek franchise has had so many movies and TV shows over the years that sometimes it’s hard to keep track of things, especially in this era of streaming when it seems like new content is premiering all the time. To wit: Star Trek: Section 31, the latest spinoff movie that’s hitting Paramount+ later this month, and is set somewhere in between the original films and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Now, ahead of the movie’s premiere on January 24, star Robert Kazinsky recently revealed that he’s “terrified” of how this new chapter will be received by longtime Trekkies.

Kazinsky stars as Zeph in Section 31, an agent who lives and works in a mechanical exoskeleton and does whatever Omari Hardwick’s character of Alok tells him to do. Unlike previous iterations of Star Trek which have all felt more exploratory in nature, Section 31 is a straight-up spy-thriller, and for him, he knows it’s not the Star Trek people are used to seeing, which is a terrifying feeling.

“I’m terrified of how it’s going to be received, because it’s not the Trek people want,” Kazinsky told SFX magazine recently. “The Trek that people want, the Trek that we all want, is just 1,000 more episodes of [The Next Generation]. Everyone’s always furious that they’re not getting more TNG, whilst at the same time, when TNG came out, everybody hated it.”

“So this is going to come along and it’s not going to feel like any Trek that they’ve ever seen. My fear was that it might not feel like Trek at all. So for you to tell me that it still feels like Trek whilst being a completely different flavor of Trek, that encourages me. In 10 years time, we’ll look back and we’ll love every single one of these Treks.”

‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Does Feel Like a New Era for the Franchise

Serving as a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery, Section 31 sees Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh return as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, who joins the secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets. As the film progresses, she must band together with others to face off against a threat “unlike anything ever seen before.” Isn’t that always the way?

A quick preview of the trailer above confirms Kazinsky’s sentiments that, yes, Section 31 certainly doesn’t feel like any Star Trek movie or TV show that came before it, but rather something that’s ushering the franchise into a new era. It’s a spy-thriller, but it gives off Guardians of the Galaxy vibes, only with less humor and no anthropomorphic raccoon. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but in terms of what fans are used to, it’s definitely not your daddy’s Star Trek.

With the fanbase becoming a divisive bunch in recent years, it’ll be interesting to see how Section 31 is received overall. Yeoh in the lead is a good start, but will it be enough for Trekkies to welcome the film with open arms? We’ll find out when it premieres on Paramount+ on Jan. 24.

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Star Trek: Section 31