'Section 31' | Variety Studio presented by Google TV
Sam Richardson, Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, Olatunde Osunsanmi (Director), Alex Kurtzman (EP) step into our video studio at San Diego Comic Con 2024.
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00:00The movie is a lot of things. It's action, drama, comedy. It's equal parts all of that.
00:09So it's not just up to Quasi to be funny. Everybody's funny in it.
00:15And everybody's serious. The stakes are there for everybody.
00:19So it really is a whole piece, if that makes sense.
00:26But I won't say that. I won't crack some jokes, as I do.
00:30Hi, and welcome to the Variety Studio.
00:37I'm here with the team from Star Trek Section 31. Welcome, everybody.
00:42I think just to start out, if somebody, maybe Toonday, would like to sort of explain what Section 31 is.
00:51Section 31 takes place, Section 31 follows our special ops team of Starfleet
01:04as they navigate and do the things that Starfleet doesn't or can't do.
01:11And it is the first television movie that Star Trek has put together.
01:16Alex, how did that come together?
01:18Well, it was a long journey because it started as a television show.
01:21And then, you know, then the pandemic hit and then things changed.
01:25And then Michelle won an Oscar and then things changed.
01:28And, you know, it was this sort of incredible thing to see because through all the different iterations of it,
01:35Michelle was completely committed to doing it, even after.
01:38In fact, when she won the Oscar, she sort of doubled down on it.
01:41And we ended up being able to move forward in the window of time that we had.
01:45But it's been amazing.
01:46And, like, we're just finishing cutting the movie right now, and it's really, really fun.
01:51You're, of course, speaking of Michelle Yeoh.
01:53For the actors, first of all, I guess, what was it like to work with Michelle Yeoh?
01:58Oh, fantastic.
02:00She's Michelle Yeoh.
02:02You say Michelle, we say?
02:05We say Yeoh.
02:07But, no, she's such a brilliant performer, acting, stunts, everything, you know.
02:20And she brings so much to everything, especially this.
02:23It was amazing to work with and learn from her in making this.
02:28Definitely galvanizes the team.
02:30Yes.
02:31So if I may, I'd love to ask the actors to sort of talk us through
02:36just a little bit about their characters and who they're playing.
02:39And we'll start with Omari.
02:41Thank you, Adam.
02:42So I play Alak, Sahar.
02:46And Alak, to the point that our dear director made, he is the overseer, if you will,
02:52of this rogue motley crew where we take, for lack of a better word,
02:57where we take misfits, we take outcasts.
03:00And I mean that in the greatest way, in the most complimentary way,
03:05but who all are very precise at what they do.
03:08There's a signature to everybody's role.
03:13Alak expects that.
03:14He expects a lot from himself.
03:17And there might be some history in terms of Alak understanding Michelle's character
03:23and her walk and her journey.
03:25I guess he is the conduit between his group and then Michelle
03:31and her character, Philippa Georgiou.
03:34And then the new recruit to my team is played by our beloved Casey.
03:42So Casey, at Variety we broke who your character is,
03:46which I will say that for a few fellow staff members at Variety
03:51who were not as big into Star Trek,
03:53you explained to them why it was such a big deal that you're playing Rachel Garrett.
03:56So obviously you're playing Rachel Garrett, a younger version than the character we saw.
04:01But I'll let you take the reins.
04:04I mean, if you want to do it.
04:07Yeah, I'm playing Rachel Garrett.
04:10And, yeah, she was seen in TNG, played by the wonderful Tricia O'Neill.
04:15And she's part of Section 31 to sort of make sure that these cats
04:21don't get too outside the lines.
04:25You know, I'm a bit of a stickler for the rules.
04:28Maybe they loosen me up, I don't know.
04:30Who knows?
04:31Yeah.
04:32We'll have to watch to find out.
04:33Yeah.
04:36And Sam, what can you tell me about your character?
04:38I play a character named Quasi.
04:41Can I say what Quasi is?
04:43Why not?
04:44Okay, yeah.
04:45So the first Cameloid and the only other iteration of a Cameloid
04:48is played by Iman in Star Trek VI.
04:51The Cameloids have the ability to shapeshift
04:53and they can kind of become any one or anything.
04:56Sounds like five characters on a call sheet.
04:58You know what I mean?
04:59Which I am typically, but this time it's different.
05:02But, yeah, Quasi.
05:04And he's a fun character to play.
05:07I really enjoyed it.
05:08So what was your relationship with Star Trek
05:10before you got involved with this movie?
05:14We were little kids running around,
05:16and definitely for me and I would imagine Sam.
05:19This is the irony.
05:21Sam and I come from what would be considered
05:23in our great U.S. of A chocolate cities, right?
05:27He's from Detroit, I'm from Atlanta.
05:29I guess you could count Chicago and D.C.
05:33as also chocolate cities, would you say, to me, Alex?
05:38I would imagine.
05:39So it was really interesting to have Star Trek
05:41as a young black American.
05:44Because you didn't only have an opportunity
05:49to see heroes while we were wearing underoos
05:52trying to be whatever respective hero we looked up to.
05:55You also had an opportunity to see an amalgamation of races.
06:00And that just was so sweet and kind to the eye
06:06when you're a young kid sometimes feeling like an outcast.
06:10And so for me, I can't speak for Sam,
06:12but I can enough to say that it gave us,
06:15especially entering this industry,
06:17it gave us sort of a lighthouse, if you will,
06:20as to the direction that we could go,
06:22even if told we can't go that direction when we were young.
06:25Star Trek and Roddenberry and his team,
06:27and now it's transferred over to,
06:29after J.J. Abrams, it came over to an Alex Kurtzman.
06:33Obviously sitting at the seat that he now sits in,
06:36and then Tundi being brought in as Alex brought him in.
06:39We're just keeping that narrative going.
06:41So for me as a young kid,
06:43obviously Casey would have a different experience with it,
06:46but from my perspective and point of view,
06:48wow, how tasty was it to be able to see images of yourself
06:52mixed in with folks that made the likes of music and concerts
06:57and what Barry Gordy did, speaking of Detroit.
07:00You know, Barry Gordy did a great job of having
07:02one person to the left and the person to the right
07:05that they would not be next to
07:07if it weren't for Marvin Gaye or The Supremes on stage performing.
07:11So it has its place in time
07:14because it is the longest-running franchise,
07:16but man, it's also the sweetest in terms of
07:19where we think we should be or where we should be
07:22in terms of as people next to each other.
07:24That's really beautiful.
07:26I watched the show.
07:31And I grew up without a TV.
07:33You did?
07:34Yeah.
07:35So when you signed on and you were cast as Rachel Garrett,
07:38what was your sort of education process
07:40to understand who the character was?
07:42Yeah, I mean, for the first chunk of the audition process,
07:46I didn't know who she was.
07:48It was a different name, obviously.
07:50And then in sort of my final, like, gauntlet callback,
07:57I learned who she was, which informed a lot,
08:01and then I just dove headlong into learning about it.
08:06And, yeah, I don't know.
08:08Have you been sort of, like, absorbing other Star Trek?
08:12Oh, yeah.
08:13Oh, I've been bathing in it.
08:15Yeah, it's been great.
08:16I'm on board.
08:17I'm, like, all about it now.
08:19I'm converted.
08:20And, Sam, you did watch Star Trek.
08:22Oh, I truly lifelong Trekker.
08:26Trekker.
08:27Trekker.
08:28My whole, like, I started watching,
08:31my dad and I would watch TOS, the original series, together,
08:34and then myself, I would watch Next Generation.
08:37So I've seen every episode of Next Generation
08:39maybe, like, at least five times, you know.
08:42Growing up wanting to be Geordi LaForge,
08:44you know, you put the hair clips up over your eyes
08:47and, you know, you're an engineer on the ship.
08:52So to get to be part of Star Trek now
08:55is so surreal and wild to me.
09:00I saw LeVar Burton at the Peabody Awards
09:06when we were all there,
09:07and he came up to me from behind and said,
09:09my longtime coming, and I almost bust out crying.
09:13I saw it.
09:14I, like, it was truly wild to me.
09:19So I'm a kid in a candy shop
09:21who's got a bunch of money to buy candy.
09:25And congratulations on the Peabody Award.
09:28Alex, what was that whole experience like to have,
09:32I mean, you had, there were all kinds of people
09:34from all different stripes of Star Trek
09:36that were there for that.
09:37That was the most amazing part, actually,
09:39was that you looked around,
09:41you saw somebody from almost every cast,
09:43and you just feel the weight of the legacy, you know,
09:47and the connection between everybody.
09:49It was kind of amazing.
09:50You know, what Sam was just talking about,
09:53I watched it happen,
09:54and it was a really profound,
09:55I mean, as profound as it was,
09:57it was the most profound for Sam,
09:59I think the feeling of, you know,
10:02seeing multiple generations of actors coming together
10:05for their own unique reasons,
10:07connecting over what it means to be in this franchise.
10:11I hate the word franchise.
10:13It feels like we all work at McDonald's.
10:14I'm not going to use that word.
10:16It's family, right?
10:18Family, it's family.
10:19And it was, it's just a beautiful,
10:21it was a beautiful experience.
10:22Obviously, like, I mean, you know,
10:24whenever people say, oh, it was humbling,
10:26I always feel like, oh, that's a scripted word.
10:28But it really was humbling,
10:29because we were sitting there with people
10:30who were risking their lives every week to tell stories.
10:34And that was really profound,
10:36because we don't do that.
10:38We don't do that.
10:39And to be in that company for us was amazing,
10:42because I think that Star Trek has just had
10:45such an impact on so many people for so long.
10:48And I think we all felt it that night.
10:51Sunde, you and I talked about the impact
10:53that Star Trek had on you,
10:54and how Geordi was also a really meaningful character for you.
10:57I'm wondering, as you stepped into the,
10:59you've directed a lot of episodes of Star Trek,
11:01but as you stepped into the process of making a feature,
11:05how did you want to sort of make it feel like Star Trek,
11:08but also, like, the shows that you've been directing,
11:11but then expand the scope to make it feel like a film?
11:14Yeah, it's an excellent question, Adam.
11:16I mean, yeah, we've done a lot of discovery.
11:19I've done a lot of discovery.
11:20And I had a lot of discussions with Alex
11:23about what makes 31 a little bit different.
11:27You know, we've talked about it, you know,
11:29being the flip side of Trek, in a way, but still Trek.
11:32You know, and introducing all these different types
11:35of characters that we don't normally get to see in Trek,
11:38and really getting to enjoy them doing things
11:42in different colors of the rainbow
11:44than we would ordinarily see in Star Trek.
11:47And, you know, I grew up watching Star Trek
11:50in Orange County, and, you know,
11:53looking at Geordi up on screen
11:55was a very profound impact on me.
11:57And then I got to meet him for the first time
11:59at the Peabody's as well, you know.
12:01And it was just really great to give him a hug
12:03and tell him how I felt about him
12:05and the impact it had on my life, you know.
12:07And so, you know, we have a bunch of different types of people,
12:10characters in Section 31.
12:12So I hope each of those characters
12:14has a profound impact on that kid or that adult
12:17that gets to see them and enjoy them in this movie.
12:20We'll see, brother.
12:22So, you know, I was on the set,
12:24so I have a little bit of an appreciation
12:27for how different Section 31 is.
12:30But for the actors, as far as how does Section 31
12:34sort of stand apart in the vast galaxy of Star Trek?
12:40Maybe we can use that word.
12:43I feel like typically Star Trek,
12:46and like anytime you're on a ship,
12:48there's protocols, you know what I mean?
12:50It's naval, you know.
12:53So, you know what I mean?
12:55But Sections 31 exists outside of that construct.
12:59So it's very ragtag, very loose,
13:03very sort of just get the thing done
13:05however they need to get it done,
13:07which is a very different, you know...
13:12Take on it.
13:13Take on sort of the Star Trek world.
13:16But ironically, to Sam's point,
13:18and I imagine that Tundi and Alex,
13:23you know, one of the things they wanted us most to pull off was,
13:26but there is a necessity to remain of some level of formality.
13:32If that, well, yeah.
13:35Casey's point is they inserted me, Omari.
13:39Correct.
13:40So as she policed this rogue version of policing agent and agency,
13:45particularly with Sam's character,
13:47because, and it was so well written,
13:50I don't know who wrote this.
13:51It might have been, maybe Alex wrote this specific part.
13:54No, Craig Sweeney.
13:55Craig Sweeney.
13:56No, but I mean this specific part I'm about to refer to.
13:59When I say I found Sam's character,
14:03I just simply say I found Sam's character,
14:05and I allude to why he's so great at what he does.
14:08But in reality, as much as we can be rogue, to Sam's point,
14:12as much as we can be like loosey-goosey,
14:14just try to figure it out,
14:15but still while maintaining the structure of the galaxies,
14:19all the galaxies, plural,
14:21the reality is I find section 31 to stand out most
14:24because there's still that marriage,
14:26the hybrid of sorts of the formality that we grew up watching,
14:29and yet they still have this dirty sort of edgy take on it.
14:32And then a sense of humor is allowed.
14:34So that was just amazing for us,
14:37in particular before we really got going.
14:40There were scenes that we shot, and I thought it was a great job.
14:43I guess Tooney wanted it shot this way,
14:45where we got to love and know each other sort of early.
14:49And it was a scene that was nothing but fun.
14:52Everybody got to show the individuality of their characters.
14:55In all of the Star Trek iterations, worlds,
15:00if you want to be inclusive in this family,
15:02if that's the word Alex wants to use,
15:04there is a formality and a structure that is not boring,
15:08but it absolutely is of mechanical structured nature.
15:12We're a bit different.
15:14We're kind of really going there,
15:16but yet we still at the same time have to be a bit structured.
15:19So I found as a Loxahar,
15:21that was interesting for me to figure that out in the beginning.
15:24Am I super structured? Can I be funny?
15:26So I really went to Tooney and said,
15:28Bro, you got to beat me up. Don't just direct me.
15:30Help me figure this out.
15:32And he beat me up properly.
15:34The comedy is also a really important thing too, I think,
15:37because that was something that seemed to be very much a part of the show.
15:42And I'm looking at Sam,
15:44because it seems like at least some of that fell to you.
15:47Was that your experience of it?
15:50I think definitely Quasi is a character
15:56that you can put comedy through, you know what I mean?
15:59And I think I'm an experienced comedian.
16:02You are?
16:03I just heard this outside.
16:05I was like, oh, I thought I was doing drama this whole time.
16:09I cry every scene.
16:11Things that hurt, bro.
16:13But, you know, the movie is a lot of things.
16:21It's action, drama, comedy.
16:24It's equal parts all of that.
16:27So it's not just up to Quasi to be funny.
16:31Everybody's funny in it, and everybody's serious,
16:34and the stakes are there for everybody.
16:37So it really is a whole piece, if that makes sense.
16:43But, you know, I won't say that.
16:45I won't crack some jokes, as I do.
16:47You also have to wear those contacts.
16:50Yeah, I wear contacts this whole time.
16:53Announcement.
16:55You heard it here, folks.
16:58Because, like, with those contacts,
17:00you can't wear them for, like, such a long time.
17:04I couldn't wear regular contacts when I was wearing those
17:07because your eyes get so dried out,
17:10and, like, you don't want, like, any sort of infection.
17:12So I wasn't able to wear my contacts between scenes,
17:14so I'm, like, there with no glasses.
17:16So I was like, you know what, if I want to do this,
17:19I'm going to need to alter my eyes.
17:22He was bumping into everybody.
17:23Exactly.
17:24And now I'm just, like, swinging and punching people
17:26because I'm scared.
17:28I can't see anything.
17:29How'd I get there?
17:30I don't know.
17:31Contacts.
17:33So two more questions for you.
17:35First, what is your absolute top, no other exceptions,
17:39favorite episode of Star Trek?
17:41Measure of a Man.
17:43That's a good one.
17:44Yeah.
17:45Oh, it's my favorite.
17:46It's where a science officer from another ship
17:50comes to take Data.
17:51Yeah.
17:52Because the question is, is he a property of Starfleet
17:55or is he a member of Starfleet?
17:57And Picard is arguing in favor of Data
18:02and playing truly devil's advocate is Riker,
18:08who has to argue against Data being autonomous, you know.
18:13And, like, it's a really brilliant episode
18:15that I really love.
18:16It's my favorite episode of Star Trek.
18:17Dune Day.
18:18So, yeah, I'm blanking on the title of my episode,
18:20but it's when we met the Progenitors.
18:22When we met, what was it?
18:24Next Gen, yeah.
18:25Yeah, Next Gen, yeah.
18:26The Chase.
18:27I do remember that one.
18:28That's called The Chase.
18:29The Chase, yes.
18:30And it was directed, ironically, by Jonathan Frakes.
18:33And that episode had a profound impact on me
18:37when I was watching it as a kid just thinking,
18:40oh, my gosh, you know, what is out there, you know?
18:44And now you're here directing us?
18:46And now I'm here directing you guys, you know,
18:48in Star Trek, which is, you know, always a pinch moment.
18:53The Inner Light.
18:54The Inner Light, yeah.
18:55It's just a beautiful, like, it represents
18:58one of my favorite parts of Star Trek,
19:00which is, I mean, it's the last temptation of Picard,
19:03you know, and so the idea of an alternate life
19:06and, you know, who you are,
19:08having to examine who you are
19:09and the choices that you've made and why
19:12and what other lives you could have lived.
19:14I just think it's beautiful.
19:16You know, the ending is beautiful.
19:19It is, yeah.
19:21So the last question is the question
19:23that we've been asking everybody who's coming in here,
19:25which is what is your, what is on your watch list?
19:29What are you watching right now?
19:32I'm waiting for Old Man to return.
19:34Oh, yeah.
19:35I'm a big Jeff Bezos fan.
19:36So good, so good.
19:37And I like the first one, right?
19:40You know, I feel like I'm in, I think,
19:42I think Alex Kurtzman has a good taste.
19:46You know, but Old Man was a great, right?
19:48So good.
19:49Really good.
19:50Jeff Bridges is always just so excellent.
19:54Watching a few things.
19:55Watching Shogun.
19:57Yeah, that's great.
19:58Amazing.
19:59The Bear, Boys.
20:03RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars just ended.
20:06Very good.
20:07So, yeah, that's all that makes up Sam.
20:10You know what I mean?
20:11Yeah.
20:12That's me in a nutshell.
20:14I just finished Presumed Innocent.
20:15Oh, my God, I just started it.
20:17Yes.
20:18Don't tell me what happened.
20:19I'm not going to tell you anything.
20:20I loved it.
20:21Episode 5 just came out.
20:22It's done.
20:23I think it finished, yeah.
20:24Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh.
20:25This past Wednesday episode.
20:27Yeah, it certainly did.
20:28That's another one I've been on, too.
20:29Yeah, but I loved it, and I love Ruth Nega so much,
20:32so that was an easy watch for me.
20:34Difficult watch, but fun.
20:37Tunde, how about you?
20:38You know, I've been watching Slow House.
20:40Slow Horses.
20:41Slow Horses.
20:42Yeah, and, yeah, just found that and burned right through it,
20:46and I just, what an incredible world they've created, you know.
20:51I'm almost done with Season 3 of The Bear
20:54and just watched the episode where Natalie and her mother,
21:00where Natalie gives birth, and it is,
21:03like, it reminded me of why television is so amazing.
21:07To be able to just do two,
21:09sometimes just have two characters in a room
21:12in a super fraught situation
21:13where they have a lot to work out with each other
21:15is the most wonderful kind of drama.
21:17For all the special effects and everything we do,
21:19there's sort of nothing more elementally beautiful
21:21than that kind of story,
21:22and it reminded me, actually,
21:24that I want to tell more stories like that on Trek
21:26because we don't often do that.
21:27We don't usually put people in a box like that,
21:30and when it works, man, it's so great.
21:33They did long takes on that, too.
21:35They did, like, two takes or something.
21:37They did, and they just let the actors go.
21:39Yeah.
21:40There was, like, very little cutting, you know.
21:42It was beautiful.
21:43Yeah, Tony, let us go, man.
21:44Delicious.
21:45Delicious.
21:46Go.
21:47I believe there was a lot of improv going on.
21:49Oh, yeah, there was.
21:50There was.
21:51There was.
21:54I got to fly a spaceship.
21:55Yeah.
21:56And I caught you.
21:57That's right.
21:58One of the things I think that's so fun, by the way, Adam,
22:00about, like, you know,
22:01sort of where 31 fits into the spectrum of Trek
22:04is that, you know, Trek in its DNA
22:07plays around with all different kinds of genres, right?
22:10That's the model that TOS set,
22:12and the idea of doing spy-fi, you know,
22:14the idea of doing a spy show
22:16in the context of Star Trek is really fun.
22:19I also think that what we loved
22:21about the approach to this particular thing
22:25is that all of the characters,
22:27even Garrett, in a way,
22:29you know, even though Garrett is the person
22:32who can put on a uniform,
22:33everybody else is the character
22:35that wouldn't ever be able to put on a uniform
22:37in a regular starship
22:38but would want to accomplish all the same things
22:41that a regular Starfleet officer would want to accomplish.
22:43They just want to do it in a very different way, right?
22:45And in some ways, the idea of the show is,
22:47of the movie is,
22:50Starfleet can do its job
22:52in the sort of black and white of right and wrong
22:55because Section 31 only exists in the gray area
22:58and allows Starfleet to live that way.
23:00So the idea that, you know,
23:02you're in a complicated world
23:04and you need complicated people
23:05to do the complicated job
23:07that may not fall into the traditional
23:09yes or no of Starfleet
23:10is a really interesting idea.
23:13Well, guys, thank you so much for coming in
23:15and have a great Comic-Con.