No matter what side of the galaxy you’re on regarding your opinion of Paramount+’s first-ever direct-to-streaming “Star Trek” film, “Section 31,” we can at least all agree (hopefully) that the fun cameo at the very end of the movie was unexpectedly amusing and does leave an opening for a potential sequel.
Spoilers ahead: If you haven’t seen the movie yet, check out our How to watch Star Trek: Section 31 guide for more info.
That specific scene occurs when Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and her motley crew of black ops agents finish their first mission to save the United Federation of Planets from a doomsday bomb called The Godsend. They all reconvene beyond the borders of Federation space back at Georgiou’s space station nightclub/casino, The Baraam, to share a celebratory toast for a job well done averting the apocalyptic calamity.
An incoming holographic transmission arrives from the secret unit’s Section 31 director delivering their next dangerous mission and destination. This Control character is played by Michelle Yeoh’s good friend and “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” colleague Jamie Lee Curtis!
She appears as a violet-skinned cyborg and is instantly recognized as the voice of the Priority Message alert sent to the Alpha Team Leader at the start of the film after the shocking flashback sequence showing how Georgiou became the Terran Emperor.
Control addresses the gathered team that includes Alok (Omari Hardwick), Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), Quasi (Sam Richardson), and Fuzz’s sassy wife Wisp (Sven Ruygrok) to tell them that their commando group will stay in operation and asks, “Has anybody been to Turkana IV?” That particular planet is a geeky callback to the colonized world that was home to Lt. Tasha Yar and her sister Ishara Yar from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Director Olatunde Osunsanmi explained to EW how Michelle Yeoh helped make the arrangements that brought Curtis into the “Star Trek” universe for the first time.
“We were discussing as producers who should play this part,” he tells EW. “We went through a few names, and then we landed on, ‘What if it were Jamie Lee Curtis? Okay, well, who among us knows Jamie Lee Curtis? Oh yeah! Michelle knows Jamie Lee Curtis.’ Michelle’s like, ‘Of course, I’ll put in a good word.’ But then what we realized simultaneously was that Alex’s cousin — the cousin of top ‘Star Trek’ producer Alex Kurtzman — also represents Jamie Lee Curtis. So we were able to talk to her through two different avenues, and it all came together very easily.”
Will Curtis be brought back for a “Star Trek: Section 31” follow-up series or another streaming movie? It’s more likely that this was a one-and-done project considering the unfavorable reviews but we’d certainly never bet against it!
“Star Trek: Section 31” is currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+.
