Alex Kurtzman On The Evolution Of ‘Section 31’ And What He Has Learned Running Star Trek TV – TrekMovie.com

In addition to our chat during a junket last week, TrekMovie also had a chance to talk to executive producer Alex Kurtzman at the premiere in New York City premiere of Star Trek: Section 31. We spent a few minutes with the man who oversees the Star Trek franchise on TV to talk about how this new streaming movie fits into Trek, how it has changed during years of development, and what could be next for this format.

So, fans have been worried [about Section 31]…

Yeah, I know!

So what would you say is the Star Trek of it all that would reassure them?

Here’s what I would say. I think that first and foremost, as a fan, and as many fans that I’ve spoken to, I think you you tend to find Star Trek because you feel somehow like you don’t fit in, right? And Star Trek becomes a safe place that tells you it’s okay to be different. It’s okay to be a misfit. And this is a movie about misfits, right? And so in a way, it’s, I think, reinforcing one of the things that is elemental about Star Trek.

The other thing I would say is that Section 31 asks this really interesting question, because Trek has always been a mirror that holds itself up to the moment. Right? It’s not really about the future, it’s allegorical stories that are about what we’re dealing with now. And in that way, we’re asking ourselves “Who do we have to be in order to protect our freedoms? Who do we have and what has to be done in order to protect our freedoms? And where is that gray area?: Because it’s always easy to talk in black and white, but it’s very difficult to talk about the gray area, right? And that’s an active debate about the nature of Section 31 that’s existed since DS9, and we’re taking that to a new place. So ultimately, I feel like what we’re saying is that in order for Starfleet and that beautiful vision that Roddenberry had of this optimistic utopia, in order for that vision to exist, in order for the light to exist, you need people who operate in the shadows. And it’s a yin and yang. You can’t have one without the other. So I feel like ultimately, even though we touch on dark things in the movie, it’s not a dark movie. It’s a very fun movie, and it reinforces what I think is essential about Star Trek, which is the idea that in the future, our better angels have won. They’ve led us to a better tomorrow, and that’s what we have. And just because the misfits in our movie aren’t the kinds of characters that can don a Starfleet uniform and be on a starship, they want the same thing that a Starfleet officer would want, which is that vision that Roddenberry had for a better tomorrow. And in that way, I think it’s just another color in the rainbow of Star Trek.

I know Section 31 went through a lot of changes, from a TV show to movie… Other than Michelle Yeoh, what else was kept from that original idea?

A lot, actually. You know, the fact that we had worked for so long on the on the show… We built a world, we built characters, we built an idea, we built an arc for her, and it’s the same story. The difference is, we would have told it in 10 hours. Now we’re telling it in two. And what, for me, is really fun is that it’s really a space Western. You know, if you look at the paradigm of a Western, she’s like Clint Eastwood in a Western. She’s a gunslinger with a past that she’s been running away from. She’s offered a chance of redemption, she has to decide if she’s going to take it. That’s a really fun thing to be able to do in the context of Star Trek.

I know [Discovery‘s Ash] Tyler was initially going to be in the series? Was there anyone else from Discovery who was possibly going to be in it? 

I mean, we would have considered it, but you’re in a very different timeframe, so you would have had to deal with time travel, which, of course, has been done many, many times in Star Trek. But, you know, it’s always a question. You don’t want to do it just to do it, you want to do it because the story demands that you have to do it.

So why did you pick this particular time [early 24th century] for it?

Because of Rachel Garrett… I think we felt like you needed a Starfleet officer in the mix, saying, “Wait a minute. this is what Star Trek these are the rules, why aren’t you following the rules?” and she just was the perfect—the other thing that, again, you asked, like, why should a character be in there? To us, what was so fun was the idea of a proto-captain. She’s not the captain that she becomes. She actually learns an incredibly important lesson about sacrifice and what it means to lead because of this experience. So when you watch [TNG’s] “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” you can go, “Oh, right, actually, she learned part of what happens there from her experience in Section 31” and then suddenly it becomes a richer and more dimensional experience.

Do you think these streaming movies are going to be a way forward for Star Trek? And if so, like, are there things you’re already considering for possible new ones?

I think it’s entirely possible. We’ll see how people react. There’s a lot… Paramount is going through a lot of changes right now, we have no idea what that’s going to mean. At this point, all we can do is just keep our noses down and keep working on Star Trek. But I think anything’s possible. I think Trek, in its soul and in its core, is, is a series, right? It’s an ongoing adventure. It’s a five-year mission. But the movies have also proven that some stories are better told in two hours, and so it’s actually a great opportunity, and now that streaming film can exist as separate from theatrical releases, I think it only opens the possibility to more.

We’ve had the Roddenberry era, the Berman era, and this is the Kurtzman era. So what do you feel now that you’ve seen a bunch of Star Trek live-action and animated shows—what do you what are your takeaways in terms of what works and what doesn’t in terms of creating and sustaining new Trek?

You know, I feel like what’s most important is to try new things. You have to do this really weird thing with Star Trek, which is you have to please the core fans first and foremost, but you also have to bring in new fans. And a lot of the time, the new fans don’t necessarily respond to the things that are 50 years old or more. And you have to find that balance. So you have to do something that’s both entirely familiar and totally fresh at the same time. And any story that falls into that, I think, is what we’re aiming for.

More Section 31

Read more Section 31 coverage from this week:

There are many more interviews to come from the premiere and from the junket as well as more analysis.

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