Yesterday at WonderCon Anaheim, the creative team behind Star Trek: Discovery revealed a ‘secret scene’ pulled out of the final episode of last season, “Will You Take My Hand?,” debuting actor Alan Van Sprang as an operative of Section 31, sent to Qo’noS to recruit emperor-in-exile Phillipa Georgiou to the clandestine organization.

In an interview recorded just after the Discovery panel, Flickering Myth caught up with the actor in a roundtable press discussion, where Van Sprang revealed that while his character ‘Leland’ was crafted in the final moments of the season, and he doesn’t yet know the details for how Season 2 will play out just yet, he knows that his character — and Section 31 — will be a big part of next year’s story arc.

[Season 2] is a mystery to me as well… It’s not only that I can’t say anything about it – which I can’t – but honestly, I know nothing about it. I really don’t. I did the last show, episode 15, that’s what you saw [at the panel], and they pulled it to be the teaser trailer [sic] for Season 2. So I know that I’m a part of Season 2, but I haven’t read anything, I don’t know what I’m doing.

I know [Section 31] is going to be a massive part of it, but honestly – and it’s not like I’m holding any secrets, like Jason Isaacs sitting here saying ‘I knew who I was, and what I was doing,’ no. I really have no idea. But I’m definitely a big part of Season 2. Definitely.

I think it’s a really interesting part of “Star Trek,” having this intelligence agency, and honestly, when I came in [to the convention] last night, they told me, “You cannot say anything!” It’s like “Fight Club.” “You cannot say ANYTHING about Section 31!” But I don’t even know anything! [laughs]

Like, I’m going into Season 2, and I know it’s a massive part of Season 2, but I really don’t know anything. But I look forward to it.

The actor also revealed that while he’s caught up on the Deep Space Nine episodes where Section 31 was first developed for the Star Trek franchise, he’s also looking forward to diving into the Star Trek: Section 31 novels from Simon & Schuster, which also expand the world of the secretive group.

I watched all of “Deep Space Nine” [Section 31 episodes], and I found own [Sloan] and the doctor [Bashir] from that show, their relationship, what they were doing… so I watched all of those episodes, and I think this is even more mysterious than that.

When we did [the Georgiou] scene, we didn’t know if the series was going to be picked up or not [for Season 2]… so now the research begins. There’s novels – there’s actually novels, books based on Section 31, so I’m just starting to read those… I’m sure they’re going to be interesting.

The last show I did, ‘Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments,’ there’s so many books on that, so I was reading those, and that was amazing, but Section 31, I’m really interested!

We’ll surely learn more about Leland and the role Section 31 will play as Season 2 moves into production this Spring, as pre-production continues in Toronto for filming to kick off next month.

TrekMovie confirmed at WonderCon this weekend that like the original plan for Season 1, Star Trek: Discovery will have 13 episodes to its second season, but there’s not yet a release date confirmed for when we’ll have Burnham, Saru, and the rest of the crew back for more adventures.

As always, keep coming back to TrekCore for the latest in Discovery news!

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