Star Trek: Section 31

“Disability tropes strongly undercut Star Trek: Section 31’s inclusivity.”

Title: Star Trek: Section 31 (2025)
Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi 👨🏾🇺🇸
Writer: Craig Sweeny 👨🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Li 👩🏻🇺🇸

—MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD—

Technical: 1/5

If you’re a fan of Star Trek: Discovery (2017–24), or of the series’ cutthroat Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), chances are you’ll be disappointed in this hokey streamer from Paramount+. Star Trek: Section 31 follows Philippa’s backstory while ripping off ideas pioneered by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU): For starters, it rides on the coattails of a broader multimedia brand, this one being Star Trek. The cookie-cutter plot may well have been spat out by ChatGPT—an anti-hero (Philippa) bands together with a motley crew to stop a weapon from destroying the universe. Section 31 also adopts Marvel’s signature style of childish banter. (A running gag about how to pronounce “Godsend” hits peak cringe.) And the script seems designed for “viewers” who aren’t even looking at the screen—a common industry practice for streamers—as dialogue spells out events that should be obvious, such as a man foaming at the mouth and keeling over while a character loudly declares, “You took the same poison!”

If my tone sounds frustrated, it’s because I am. As a longtime Star Trek fan, and as someone who’s lapped up every episode of Discovery and its spin-off, Strange New Worlds (2022–), Section 31 feels like a slap in the face. It retains none of the sly humor, thoughtful inclusion, or respect for its audience that Discovery embodies.

In theory, I appreciate executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s goal of “creating different flavors of Star Trek,” which he’s done successfully with previous projects like the cerebral Picard (2020–23), or jauntier Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). And it’s positive that director Olatunde Osunsanmi tried “to do something different,” something “new and fresh.” But the exact problem is that there’s nothing new or fresh about Section 31. It’s just a bad MCU movie with none of the production values, and Star Trek branding slapped on top.

Gender: 3/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES

Philippa plays the leading role, and there are a couple of women in the film’s titular spy ring, known as “Section 31.” But as written and directed by men, the film never goes deeper on feminist themes. Philippa’s emotional arcs include a past romance with a man, San (James Hiroyuki Liao), and she has no relationship of note with any other woman in the movie.

Race: 4/5

On the plus side, Section 31 has racial diversity to lean on. Main actors include Malaysian Chinese Yeoh (Philippa), Taiwanese-Japanese American Liao (San), and Black American Omari Hardwick as Section 31’s leader, Alok Sahar. Behind the lens, director Osunsanmi is Nigerian American. As a result, the film does effectively de-center whiteness. That said, shallow characters and a script that avoids any mention of race or ethnicity keeps this at a “good but not great” diversity rating.

—MINOR SPOILERS IN THE NEXT CATEGORY—

Deduction for Disability: -0.75

In the interests of keeping this review light on spoilers, I’ll say only that the film’s sole character with a visible disability falls into the laziest tropes around. They’re shown dying, and they also get villainized. The only thing that would’ve made this representation worse is if the villain was driven to violent acts because of their disability; that isn’t the case here. Still, this only highlights how there’s no reason for this character to have a visible difference. These stereotypes strongly undercut Section 31’s inclusivity while adding absolutely nothing to the story.

—END SPOILERS—

Mediaversity Grade: D 2.42/5

It pains me greatly to give such a low rating to a Star Trek movie, and one that stars the beloved Michelle Yeoh to boot. But the franchise’s first straight-to-streaming movie brings with it all the issues that would suggest: The writing lacks imagination, the comedy falls flat, and the derivative plot feels spat out by generative AI fed superhero movie scripts from the 2010s. The ending even borrows the annoying MCU hallmark of teasing another spin-off or sequel. I truly hope that this is Section 31’s final outing, at least in this form.

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Grade: DLiJanuary 23, 2025