Section 31’ Species Backstory – TrekMovie.com Emergency USA

On Wednesday night, TrekMovie spoke to members of the cast and crew of Star Trek: Section 31 at the premiere in New York City. We got a few minutes with Sven Ruygrok, the South African actor who plays Fuzz, who talked about being a new fan of the franchise, his character’s backstory and future [spoiler alert], doing fight scenes with Michelle Yeoh, and more. The actor exuded energy, enthusiasm, and warmth in his interview with us.

How familiar were you with Star Trek before this?

To be honest, very little. I’m a baby Trekkie, as I’d say, and I’ll say it again. But I think as I grow in this, I grow in love, I grow in appreciation, and I go into it with deep respect.

So you didn’t have a moment of like, I’m a Vulcan, but not a Vulcan—

Oh no, no. I definitely had that. There was a lot of that and a lot of like eyebrow raising, and not [being] 100% sure of what’s going on, but I think the freedom and the joy that came with this character was given to me by the producer, was given to me by our wonderful director, Olatunde, and there was a sense of freedom like he is Vulcan, but he’s not.

Your character’s an alien we haven’t seen before. So did you come up with ideas for his backstory, or his life?

I mean, for this, specifically, it was initially a TV series, so there was an entire episode dedicated to the Nanokins. And I had to rack Craig Sweeny’s, our writer’s, brain a little bit to be like, “Tell me more. Tell me more about this, right?” And what, what came out of that was this deep love for his his race. He’s deeply fond of them, and he will do anything for them. And I quite like that, and I took that into this. So people will be like, “Oh, what is his vibe here?” But again, he’s trying to do the right thing. What he feels is the right thing. And that sometimes can be dangerous relativism, right?

Because he doesn’t see himself as a villain.

Exactly, no no no, no. He sees it as carrying on his race. And these biggies are just messing everything up.

So were you were on Section 31 when it was a series, were they talking to you then?

No, so what ended up happening was this series, but then because of COVID and time and scheduling, it got whittled down to what we now see as the film, and that’s when I came on board.

But you did know there was an episode?

Yeah, I was told that, yeah.

Did you see any of the other scripts or stories?

None. I wish! I would have loved that!

So tell me about fighting, doing fight scenes with Michelle.

Oh, incredible, incredible. I mean, she is a performer of note, not just in her acting, but her physical ability. I mean, a story that she told me that I was just—this just marks the woman that she is. For two hours every single day, she would wake up and do stretches. So I knew that two hours before call time, Michelle Yeoh is up stretching for the day. So if there was ever that sense of like, you know, you come and you’re like, Oh, I’m feeling a little bit like [makes tired face] you’ve got, like, Michelle Yeoh is stretching two hours before you, buddy, get your butt there. And I think that brought out the A-game, and she elevates things, just by her nature, just by her being generous, she elevated. So like when we were doing the fight scenes, she is… She’s phenomenal.

If there were a sequel, what would you see yourself doing in it? Because you could still be in it.

Oh, yeah, I could still definitely be in it. I’m hoping that the wife finds the husband and kicks his butt. And I definitely think that Fuzz survives. I mean, little things survive big explosions.

And it’s Star Trek, after all.

And there you go.

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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