Section 31 is a problematic but necessary part of Star Trek, which I believe Star Trek: Section 31 will make clear. Directed by Olatunde Osunanmi, and written by Craig Sweeny, Star Trek: Section 31 premieres Friday, January 24, 2025, on Paramount+. Star Trek: Section 31 is the first new Star Trek movie in 9 years, and it's the first Star Trek movie made for streaming on Paramount+. Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh reprises her iconic anti-heroine, Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery, to lead a new team of black ops agents in Star Trek: Section 31.
Introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Section 31 was controversial from its inception. Section 31 is an underground division charged with protecting the United Federation of Planets by any means necessary. Even in the murkier and morally gray DS9, Section 31 always felt like a black mark on Gene Roddenberry's Utopian vision of Star Trek. Yet Section 31 was also an intriguing idea that didn't go away. Section 31 returned in Star Trek: Enterprise, were outright villains in Star Trek Into Darkness, and gained a new life in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, where Emperor Georgiou joined the agency. But did Star Trek ever need Section 31, or a Star Trek: Section 31 movie?
I Agree With Rob Kazinsky’s Views About Section 31
Section 31 is a necessary evil
Section 31 has been part of Star Trek for over 25 years in several incarnations, the latest being Star Trek: Section 31. The argument of whether Section 31 should even exist is moot - Section 31 is canon and now indelibly woven into Star Trek. But I was intrigued by Star Trek: Section 31 actor Rob Kazinsky's comments at New York Comic Con. A Star Trek fan himself who initially rejected the very idea of Section 31, Kazinsky explained why he signed on to the new Star Trek movie, and why he now believes the Federation can't exist without Section 31. Read Rob's quote as reported by TrekMovie:
When the idea of a Section 31 movie first appeared, I was like, “Nah.” We all hate the idea of Section 31. Nobody wants Section 31 to exist, even when it appeared with Will Sadler. We were presented with a universe where we had moved beyond the need for Section 31. That was the whole point, that we had finally transcended all the things that are holding us down today and evolved to a point where Section 31 didn’t exist. And then Deep Space Nine happened, and “In The Pale Moonlight,” Sisko says my favorite line in Star Trek. He says, “It’s easy to be a saint in paradise.”
When you expand the universe into something more realistic, the simple truth of the matter is, the Federation can only exist if a Section 31 exists. Now, what we can do is we can take it from being a nefarious organization to humanizing it and actually showing the need for it. To showing, on the frontier where the Federation doesn’t already exist, there is the need for somebody to roll up their sleeves and live in the gray areas. So the pushback that I always felt, and I always saw for Section 31 even existing, that’s what we’re actually trying to make here. We’re trying to show that in the extended Star Trek universe, actually Section 31 is an integral part of it, as the Federation in its entirety, is. And I think that that idea of what we’re doing, of expanding the morality and the extended universe of Star Trek, I think that’s what you’re really, really going to love.
Section 31 has taken on various forms since its first appearance in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but it has always been presented as antitethical to our Starfleet heroes and their noble beliefs. There hadn't been a concerted attempt to humanize Section 31 or its agents before Star Trek: Section 31. Even in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Emperor Georgiou was serving her own interests, while Section 31 was taken over by Control, the agency's threat assessment A.I,, which became the genocidal villain the USS Discovery had to stop. An examination of the methods and people behind Section 31 in Star Trek's new movie is long overdue.
Star Trek Needs Section 31, Even If I Don't Always Like It
Someone's got to do the dirty work
Although they're often presented as stark villains, Section 31 was initially designed as the Federation's version of the CIA. As explained in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, every great galactic power has a spy organization, such as the Romulans' Tal Shiar or the Cardassians' Obsidian Order. Section 31 was a harsh pill to swallow, but its existence grudgingly made sense to me. More so, I realized it was almost charmingly naive of Starfleet in DS9's time to think the Federation wouldn't have its own black ops agency. That curtain came down when Sloan (William Sadler) revealed Section 31 to Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), and Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) learned about the black badge agency.
Section 31 is the harsh reality that allows the Federation's light to shine.
It can be argued that the Federation may not have won the Dominion War without Section 31's machinations, although their master plan to poison the Changelings' Great Link and commit genocide was reprehensible. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was, to that point, Star Trek's most realistic depiction of war and the moral compromises that must often be made when billions of lives are on the line. Captain Sisko himself committed a war crime when he enlisted Garak to secretly trick the Romulans to fighting on the Federation's side. Gene Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek is a guiding principle, but Section 31 is the harsh reality that allows the Federation's light to shine, because the enemies of the Federation don't always operate above board.
Why I’m Excited About Star Trek’s Section 31 Movie
Bring on the "messy Star Trek"
Star Trek: Section 31 has so much going for it that intrigues and excites me. The return of Michelle Yeoh as the eternally magnetic and dangerous Emperor Georgiou is a huge draw. As a fan of the Mirror Universe, I'm all in to learn Georgiou's origin story of how she became Emperor. Setting Star Trek: Section 31 in the 24th century "lost era" is also a bold move, as it finally explores a missing chapter of Star Trek's history. Additionally, bringing in a young Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl) and revealing that a paragon of Starfleet like her has a history with Section 31 finally sheds more light on that beloved, martyred Star Trek: The Next Generation character.
I've heard Section 31 described as "messy Star Trek," and that's what I'm looking for. Star Trek: Section 31 isn't about a Federation starship exploring the galaxy to seek out new life and new civilization, and Emperor Georgiou wouldn't belong on such a ship. Section 31 is about the dark corners and hidden secrets of the Federation, and hunting the enemies who avoid the light and stay in the shadows. Section 31 also introduces a team of troubled misfits, many of whom don't belong in Starfleet. Section 31 has been a problematic part of Star Trek since it was first created, but I look forward to Star Trek: Section 31 turning Georgiou's team from a problem into a solution.
