‘Section 31’ is Star Trek’s Suicide Squad

In the outer reaches of space that Starfleet can’t touch, Section 31 reenlists Philippa Georgiou for one last job. It’s a mess. But.

Back in the late 1990s when Section 31 first appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a lot of people saw potential in a CIA style spin-off series. After all, DS9 sets itself during an intergalactic war. Starfleet is already compromising its ideals. Why not make a series about an organization who cleans up the mess so that the good guys can keep their noses clean?

Section 31, both the organization and its upcoming film, have a reputation—it’s bad guys who are supposed to do good but often wind up just being bad anyway. That sounds like a risky gambit for a film ostensibly set in a franchise built on utopian hopes for the future. And it is.

Can it be good anyway? That’s the question. And there’s enough preamble going in that before we even begin to answer it, we have to look at how we got here. So. From the top.

A Brief History Of Section 31: The Movie

Upon its premiere, Star Trek: Discovery (the first new Trek series in over a decade) begins with a bit of stunt casting. Michelle Yeoh, at the time a big-but-not-too-bad movie star, takes on the role of Captain Philippa Georgiou. And like so many bits of stunt casting, Yeoh’s character doesn’t live beyond the pilot episode.

But then we meet Emperor Philippa Georgiou: the captain’s mirror universe evil alternate. And she’s your classic chaotic bisexual baddie. Sometimes she helps. Sometimes she harms. But mostly she acts in self interest first.

We don’t get a lot of characters on Star Trek like Emperor Georgiou and Yeoh ‘s performance is magnetic. Naturally, when the character winds up in the arms of Section 31, the idea of spinning both she and the organization off starts looking lucrative.

But then Yeoh wins an Oscar for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Yeoh isn’t just a movie star—she’s a big one. Challenge number one becomes managing Yeoh’s new busy schedule. So instead of a Section 31 series we get a movie. And finding room in Yeoh’s schedule for the project (in addition to a strike or two) means it takes years for the project to get off the ground.

Which brings us to our biggest question going in: do Star Trek fans still want a Section 31 movie? And just like everything else involving the concept, the answer is, “it’s complicated”. Because while, yes, the idea has been of some interest for around for a quarter century, 2025 is a time where many Trek fans are more hungry for utopia than its darker shade.

The Pitch

The plot for Section 31, it goeth thusly. Philippa Georgiou runs a club in space incognito when a group of agents working for Section 31 turn up. Through a series of unfortunate events, Philippa gets dragged into a mission gone wrong. There’s a deadly weapon, there’s a masked foe. And caught in the middle is this new incarnation of Section 31.

It’s a heist movie. And you can tell straight away that, in particular, it’s a heist movie with a distinctly comic book vibe.

A quick rundown of the characters. There’s Alok Sahar, a mission leader with a dark past. Rachel Garrett, is a Starfleet rep trying to keep the murdering to a minimum. Quasi is a shapeshifter whose true face no one knows. Zeph is muscle wrapped in a mech suit. Fuzz is a Vulcan who is decidedly not a Vulcan. And Melle is a Deltan spy who uses her pheromones to distract.

In other words, it’s Suicide Squad in space. And, actually, if you take Georgiou’s reluctant involvement and Garrett basically being the cop into account, it’s also very Birds of Prey.

There’s a problem, though. One that looms over all the other ways Section 31 struggles: it’s a movie that was supposed to be a series. And you can feel that throughout the hour and forty minute runtime.

Section 31: A Movie in Search of More

Section 31 opens with a young Philippa Georgiou. It sets up the question: how does a young woman become an evil empress? But we don’t get the answer. We hardly get anything of that at all. It’s just a set up for plot points later.

And that’s the issue with every character. We get very little of who they are and what we do get is effectively in service of the plot. It’s far more tell than show. There’s a rumor out there that a Netflix exec thinks characters should say out loud what they are doing so people not paying attention can still know what’s going on. Section 31 often feels like that idea in action.

There are characters worth exploring! Why does a shapeshifter with no ties to anyone choose to protect these people? How does a man lose himself so completely that he can’t separate himself from the suit he wears? How does a buttoned up officer like Rachel Garrett wind up in Section 31 and how does that lead her to eventually captain the Enterprise?

There’s too much snark, not enough character exploration. Alok Sahar stands out as an exception. He has a Philippa type in his past . Philippa has a Sahar type in her past. Watching the two navigate that is interesting.

What Section 31 needs more of is that: reasons for why these people connect with one another.

What the Federation Needs

Going into the release of Section 31, there’s a debate: does the Federation need a CIA? In interviews, the cast for the film answers in the affirmative. But it’s worth noting that the story itself feels a little more ambivalent in its answer.

Technically Starfleet can’t take on this mission. But if you’ve ever watched Star Trek before, you already know that every series is choc full of flagrant rulebreakers. Even Star Trek: The Next Generation, by far the most buttoned up Enterprise crew, flouts every Starfleet regulation in the book. Frequently.

There’s a different narrative at play in Section 31, specifically seen through Rachel Garrett. She is Starfleet to the core. And she sees being buttoned up as an absolute. But the movie teaches her a different lesson. It teaches her to be more like other captains with ships named Enterprise.

And there’s an extension to this for most of the Section 31 cast. Ultimately none of them are really cut out to wear the uniform. But they are still driven towards at least trying to do good. It’s not so much that Starfleet as an organization needs Section 31. It’s more that some people are just more cut out to be rogues and Section 31 is a place for them.

Who is Section 31 For?

Ah. The gold-pressed latinum question. Is there an audience for Section 31? You’ll have to tell me once you see it. But my instinct is to say a provisional yes: but only if it gets a second chance. This Section 31 movie is too messy and too clearly found in the edit after the fact. It’s too David Ayers Suicide Squad and not enough James Gunn The Suicide Squad.

The reason to make a Section 31 series isn’t to prove that, even in the far flung future, we still need black ops. The reason is to explore the parts of the galaxy who haven’t been as homogenized by Starfleet. The goal is to stretch what Star Trek can be without being too serious about it. The goal is to have fun.

The biggest problem with Section 31 is that it too often mistakes snark for character growth and zaniness for a good time.

Lina is a 10+ year entertainment journalist veteran whose bylines include SYFY Wire, Looper, and Screen Fanatic. She has written comic scripts for IDW Comics and Zenescope Enetertainment and has written Doctor Who shorts for BBC Worldwide. She is a long-time podcast host and producer who has worked on Who Won the Week, SYFY’s Every Day series, and the Amazon podcast Untold Story. She currently co-hosts the New York Times recommended podcast Song vs Song.

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