Section 31 Movie’s Changeling May Be Smarter Than DS9’s Odo

Sam Richardson reveals what role his shapeshifter plays in Star Trek: Section 31, which hints his Chameloid may be smarter than Odo (Rene Auberjonois) on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.Richardson plays the first Chameloid seen in Star Trek since Martia, the changeling embodied by Iman in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Richardson joins the cast of Section 31, Star Trek’s first made-for-streaming movie starring Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh.

Sam Richardson was a guest on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, which delved into the Emmy-winning actor’s career. Richardson explained his Star Trek fandom and revealed his Chameloid is “a physicist shapeshifter,” making his changeling a scientific expert as opposed to Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, who was a skilled detective. Read Sam’s quote and listen to Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard below:

The new Star Trek, so Section 31, it says Star Trek movie. I had a really great time. I’m a Star Trek fan my whole life, so I know every iteration of it. The Motion Picture, the Shatner movies, the Picard movies… The J.J. Abrams, 2009, as we call it.

So I play a physicist shapeshifter, what’s called a Chameloid. This is the second time there’s ever been a Chameloid in Star Trek. And the first time was Iman in Star Trek VI… It’s actually very funny. With Iman, it’s like, this is a shapeshifter, you wanna look good, yeah, I’ll make myself Iman. For me, it’s like I wanna look good, I’m gonna make myself Sam Richardson. I’m’a accept it.

Source: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard