Star Trek: Section 31 is a 2025 American science fiction television film directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi and written by Craig Sweeny for the streaming service Paramount+.

It follows Philippa Georgiou as she works with Section 31, a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, and must face the sins of her past.

Omari Hardwick, Sam Richardson, Robert Kazinsky, Kacey Rohl, Sven Ruygrok, James Hiroyuki Liao, Humberly González, and Joe Pingue also star.

Georgiou, having traveled to the Prime Universe and joined Starfleet for a time, poses as Baraam proprietress "Madame du Franc".

Section 31 agent Alok Sahar convinces Georgiou to join his team, which includes: Melle, an irresistible Deltan; Quasi, a shapeshifting Chameloid; Zeph, the user of a mechanical exoskeleton; Rachel Garrett, a no-nonsense Starfleet officer; and Fuzz, a microscopic Nanokin who pilots a robotic suit that looks like a Vulcan.

San intends to destroy the Prime Universe with the Godsend and create his own empire that will be ruled with "righteous mercy" in contrast to Georgiou's cruel dictatorship.

They are joined by Fuzz's wife, Wisp, who pilots an identical Vulcan robotic suit and believes her husband survived the explosion.

After Yeoh's performance received positive responses, the writers of Discovery began exploring the black ops division Section 31 as part of her storyline in the second season.

[14] Kurtzman said the project was intended to be an ongoing series rather than a limited miniseries,[11] and added that Kim and Lippoldt had begun writing while still working on the second season of Discovery.

[15][16] In March 2019, CBS Television Studios president David Stapf said the spin-off would be produced in Toronto, Canada, like Discovery, but it was "a good couple of years away",[17] with Kurtzman expecting it to be released in 2021 or 2022.

[20] A writers' room had been established by the end of November, and Kurtzman said the completed pilot script "occupies an area of the Trek universe that's never really been explored geographically.

[21] By the end of January 2020, the series was set to be filmed from May to November 2020,[22] in the newly opened CBS Stages Canada in Mississauga, near Toronto.

Frakes had asked to direct Section 31's pilot episode but said a female director would likely be hired since the series was primarily a "woman's story".

[30] The third season of Discovery writes out Georgiou in the two-part episode "Terra Firma", released in December 2020, which was co-written by Kim and Lipoldt.

They said the character's storyline for the season was developed with "a lot of care", and it ends with her being transported to an unknown place and time where the spin-off is set.

[3] In February 2021, Kurtzman said there was still conversations taking place about making the series,[31] and he was optimistic about it eventually happening due to the already completed scripts.

Yeoh was attached to reprise her role in the film, which was written by Sweeny and set to be directed by Discovery executive producer Olatunde Osunsanmi.

[40] He announced the start of filming in January 2024, when additional cast members were revealed: Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, Sam Richardson, Sven Ruygrok, Robert Kazinsky, Humberly González, and James Hiroyuki Liao.

[9] Osunsanmi said the film's supporting characters had changed from when the project was planned to be a television series, and those rewrites were why Latif was no longer reprising his role.

[48] Kurtzman, Osunsanmi, Hardwick, Richardson, and Rohl promoted the film during a "Star Trek Universe" panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024.

James Hibberd at The Hollywood Reporter said the teaser had a "rebellious tone" for the franchise, beginning with a warning from Starfleet about "misfit content", using a different style of title graphics from previous Star Trek projects, highlighting Georgiou's history of murder and calling her a "bad bitch", and being set to the contemporary song "Formation" by Beyoncé.

[53] The film was promoted by Hardwick, Rohl, Kazinsky, and Osunsanmi during another "Star Trek Universe" panel at New York Comic Con in October.

[54] Most critics gave the film a negative review, with multiple finding it to be the worst entry in the Star Trek franchise.

[62] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times said the project was hurt by the stilted transition to a film from the originally-planned series, becoming an overlong pilot episode.

[63] Writing for Ars Technica, Andrew Cunningam thought the film would be hard to watch even for fans of Star Trek: Discovery and the franchise in general.

[64] Discussing the film's poor reviews, Rachel Hulshult of Screen Rant gave a list of reasons why she thought they were so negative, including: the noticeable transition from a television series to a film; a boring story; not feeling like a Star Trek series; lacking character development; and wasting Yeoh's return to the franchise.

[65] John Orquiola, also at Screen Rant, expressed concern that the negative responses could prevent future Star Trek streaming films from being made.

[66] Whitbrook had similar thoughts, saying the franchise needed to prove that the format was viable and would have been "better served if it hadn't started with such a fundamental misfire".

[67] A one-shot comic book featuring Georgiou and also titled Star Trek: Section 31 is set to be released by IDW Publishing on February 5, 2025.