Everything you need to remember before Star Trek: Episode 31

This week Star Trek boldly goes with the first major film of its streaming era: Section 31a long-in-the-works previous series turned into a streaming movie vehicle for Michelle Yeoh, returning to the franchise for the first time since she came out Discovery in 2020. But apart from the controversial spy organization that gives its name to the film, here’s what you need to know about what’s coming in the film.

What is Section 31?

First introduced in the sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space NineSection 31 is a branch of clandestine intelligence of the Federation, separate from Starfleet’s public-facing intelligence wing, intended to act as a black ops organization with a mandate to act against existential threats to the Federation. Named for a clause in the Starfleet charter that allowed for “extraordinary measures” in the face of extreme threats, Section 31 operated without official knowledge or guidance from the Federation or Starfleet at large, carrying out undercover, subterfuge and counterintelligence operations in the entire history of Starfleet. .

Although it was introduced in Deep Space Nine at the height of the Dominion War arc, Section 31 would make appearances in The company and Discovery to establish its roots first in the interior Star TrekThe primary timeline of the group, but since its debut, the group has been seen as very controversial from Star Trek fans for what the existence of the secret police in the utopian setting of the franchise means for the idealistic nature of that utopia.

The short history of the universe of Philippa Georgiou

Discovery first introduced Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou as the captain of the USS Shenzhouonly for her to be killed in action at the outbreak of the Klingon Federation war depicted throughout the show’s first season. However, Yeoh would return to reprise the character later in the same season during a set storyline Star Trekthe infamous parallel reality, the Mirror Universe. There, Georgiou was not an officer in the Terran Empire, but its Emperor – and after surviving a coup attempt, he was brought back with the crew of the Discovery to Star Trekthe first universe of Michael Burnham, who had been a protégé of the first Georgiou and first officer on board the Shenzhou.

Mirror Georgiou was recruited into Section 31 after the conclusion of the war, as an agent initially tasked with maintaining the stability of the post-war Chancellor of the Klingon Empire, L’Rell. But in the end he made his way back on board Discovery when the ship was forced to send itself thousands of years into the future to the 32nd century to destroy a rogue artificial intelligence developed by Section 31, Control. However, the temporal distance from both his home reality and his home timeline caused Georgiou to begin to destabilize on a molecular level. After meeting the Guardian of Foreverwhich tested Georgiou to see if his time in the first universe had changed him as a person, he was sent to an undisclosed time period (more on that later) where the Mirror universe and Prime were still aligned, allowing him to stay inside. the last universe without the threat of destabilization.

Who else is in Section 31?

Yeoh’s Georgiou is the returning main character Section 31but he is not the only familiar character among his cast of newer characters. Here is a brief summary of the main agents of Section 31 that we will meet in the film:

• Omari Hardwick plays Alokthe head of a Section 31 cell on a secret mission recruiting Georgiou in an attempt to make him pay for his past crimes as the Terran Emperor.
• Robert Kazinsky plays ZephAlok’s right hand man who lives in a mechanical exoskeleton.
• Sam Richardson plays Almostanother agent on Alok’s team, and a Chameloid, a shapeshifting race first seen in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
• Humberly Gonzalez plays honeya Deltan agent on Alok’s team who, unlike the Deltans before joining Starfleet, did not take an oath of celibacy, allowing him to use the natural charm of his species to benefit Section 31 .
• Sven Ruygrok plays the most mysterious member of Alok’s team, known only as Fuzz. Described as a “fun-loving” character with anger issues, his pointy ears suggest he could be a surprisingly emotional Vulcan or perhaps one of their sisters, the Romulans.
• The main cast is Kacey Rohl as Rachel Garretta young Starfleet officer assigned to Alok’s team for surveillance purposes, despite official knowledge of the division’s existence being classified. Garrett first appeared in Star Trek first in the Next Generation episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, where she was played by Tricia O’Neil, and was captain of the USS. The company-C until its destruction defending a Klingon outpost from Romulan forces in 2344.

When is Section 31 Seven?

While we don’t have an exact setting for the movie just even beyond the fact that it is set Star TrekThe main reality of Rachel Garrett, the existence of Rachel Garrett in the cast suggests that the series must be set sometime in the early 24th century, given that she has not yet risen to the rank of captain or taken command of u The company-C. This should be established Section 31 in a period largely discovered by Star Trek on the small screen, commonly known as “The Lost Era”. The original series was set in the late 2260s, with its subsequent films taking place from the 2270s to the 2290s, while The Next Generation began in 2364, shortly after the commission of the The company-D almost 20 years after the destruction of its predecessor.

U The company-C itself operated in a period of time where the Federation and the relationship of the Klingon Empire after the signing of the peace treaty of the Khitomer Accords at the end of the 23rd century was still relatively tight. It took the sacrifice of the Federation flagship to save the Klingon forces to strengthen relations between the two factions, eventually resulting in the formal Treaty of Alliance established sometime between 2344 and the events of The Next Generation-That could give us some suggestions as to what is the state of the universe at the time of Section 31.

Section 31 hits Paramount+ starting January 24th.

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